An Aurora man was charged with felony intimidation for allegedly blackmailing an Aurora teen with the threat of posting nude photos of her on social media.
Aurora police officers said the victim reported receiving a text message from an unknown number around 9:30 p.m. Jan. 27.
The person texting stated that he had nude pictures of the victim which he was going to post on the Internet if she didn’t meet him for sex. He threatened to post the pictures on Tumblr, Facebook and other social media sites, police said.
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The man allegedly told the victim he got the photos by hacking into the Facebook account of a friend of her’s to whom she had sent nude photos.
The pictures were then sent to the victim as proof, she said.
Police said the victim begged the man not to post the pictures online, and then she called police.
Officers met with the victim and helped her set up a meeting with the man. They agreed to meet at the old Copley Hospital parking lot in Aurora.
As the man approached the victim’s vehicle wearing a mask, police officers jumped out. The man ran from the scene, but was later located and identified as Maxwell Melgar of Aurora.
During the chase, police said Melgar tossed away a cell phone which was later recovered.
A search warrant was issued to obtain information from that phone, including call logs, pictures and text message history.
Melgar told police he used a cell phone application to send the messages from a fake number. He told police that he wore a mask to conceal his identity so the victim would “not be able to try and pressure him into getting into a relationship.”
Melgar has been charged with felony intimidation and resisting a peace officer.