Blackmail attempt ends in charges
Orlando — A bizarre extortion and sex scandal involving a New Orleans lawyer ended with the arrest of male escort in Orlando earlier this week.
Terrill Lewis, 25, of Florida was booked with extortion by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday after authorities said he tried to extort $100,000 from a wealthy New Orleans lawyer he met through an adult website.
Lewis remains in custody on $2,500 bail. The identity of the victim was not released by Florida authorities.
According to an arrest affidavit, the lawyer was in California the weekend of Aug. 24 conducting personal business.
The victim wanted to return to New Orleans but found all flights canceled because of Hurricane Isaac.
The report said the man decided to fly to Los Angeles to wait out the storm.
During his visit, the victim decided to hire a male escort for sex through an adult website, according to the affidavit.
He contacted Lewis, who went by the moniker Dream, and agreed to meet at a hotel in the city, the affidavit said, and the two men decided to meet in the victim’s hotel room.
The report states that the escort and the victim were drinking wine in the room, but the victim had to leave his seat numerous times to use the bathroom.
The man reported that he remembered having a conversation with Dream, but nothing afterward.
The victim said he woke up the next morning with a severe headache and soreness, the report said. The man also found used prophylactics in the bathroom in his room, the report stated.
Dream was gone, but the victim found a message from him on his cellphone saying that he had a great time, the report said.
More than two weeks later, the victim received a telephone call from the male escort, but he did not respond, the report said.
He then received several threatening text messages and email messages in which the man claimed the two had engaged in intercourse and that the Dream had recorded the encounter, the report said.
The man threatened to release those videos to the victim’s family, business partners and sponsors if he did not receive $100,000, the report said.
The report was not clear on why the victim had sponsors, but other media reports said the victim was a race car driver as well as a lawyer
According to the report, the victim paid the escort $4,000 but then contacted police to report the extortion.
Police decided to use the victim as informant to capture Dream and had him set up a meeting to exchange the remaining money for the video.
On Tuesday night, the victim met Dream at an Orlando mall but was secretly recording their encounter.
Dream was arrested without incident and later identified as Lewis.
The investigation was handled by the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, a special wing of the Sheriff’s Office.