Stillwater NewsPress

Local News

December 18, 2009

Court issues warrant for OSU student

• Brandon Johnson faces felony and misdemeanor charges in blackmail case

Chelcey Adami

Payne County District Court issued an arrest warrant with a $5,000 bond for an Oklahoma State University student accused of blackmailing a classmate.

Brandon Paul Johnson, 24, faces a felony charge of using a computer device to extort property and a misdemeanor charge of using a telecommunication device to intimidate or harass.

He is accused of blackmailing another student, Caroline Randal, 18, because she wouldn’t share her lecture notes. Charges were filed Wednesday.

Randal contacted OSU police on Dec. 7 in reference to a blackmail report, according to court documents. Randal said her classmate Johnson had asked for her notes to an introduction to theater class, and she refused.

She said Johnson responded by sending Randal a text saying he created a profile of her on match.com. He also sent her an e-mail with a photo of the match.com profile, according to the documents. He texted her saying he would take down the profile upon receipt of the notes.

According to the court documents, Johnson sent another text message which said, “You have until 8:30. If I don’t have anything, I will sign you up for another every half hour. What do you think about a craigs list ad? That’d be catchy!”

OSU police met with Johnson on Dec. 9. According to court documents, Johnson said he didn’t actually make a match.com profile but had used a computer program to place a photo of Randal onto an existing match.com profile.

Court documents say Johnson acknowledged he had sent the text message threatening to make a craigslist ad about her if he didn’t receive the notes.

“The Internet age has created a new threshold for crimes. I’m just glad we don’t see more of it,” Payne County District Attorney Rob Hudson said.

“I hope that by the media attention to this, it will remind people that these are serious crimes when you’re using your computer or text message to threaten or coerce people.”

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