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ATLANTA » A grand jury has indicted a former U.S. State Department employee accused of sending threatening emails to college-aged women in the U.S. from his computer at the U.S. Embassy in London.
Federal prosecutors in Atlanta say 37-year-old Michael C. Ford was indicted Tuesday. He faces nine counts of cyberstalking, seven counts of computer hacking to extort and one count of wire fraud.
Prosecutors say Ford accessed computer accounts of young women to obtain sexually explicit images of them.
Prosecutors say Ford threatened to post the images online unless the women complied with his demands, including requests that they shoot videos of other women undressing.
Authorities detained him in May at Atlanta’s airport as he prepared to board a flight to London.
Two lawyers representing Ford didn’t immediately return messages Wednesday.
