Jury deliberations at hand in extortion, child-porn trial

A federal jury is scheduled to begin deliberating this morning on extortion and child-pornography charges against a Little Rock man, Devion Cumbie, who is accused of forcing women and girls across the country to post nude videos of themselves online or face embarrassment in front of friends and family members.

Cumbie, who contends that threatening messages traced to his cellphone and his internet accounts during a three-month period in late 2018, when he was on home detention on a pending gun charge, were actually sent by a former friend he let stay with him. The former roommate, who is mildly mentally disabled, and who prosecutors say couldn't have engineered the sophisticated scheme, testified that he didn't even know the access code to Cumbie's phone, though it's possible he borrowed it once or twice once Cumbie unlocked it for him.

Jurors, sitting 6 feet apart in a modified jury box and chairs placed in front of it to accommodate coronavirus social-distancing requirements, heard testimony over three days from five young women, three of whom were under 18 at the time they interacted on Facebook Messenger and Snapchat with someone they believed to be Chink Capone, a YouTube star they admired.

Assistant U.S. attorneys Erin O'Leary and Kristin Bryant contend that Cumbie hid behind the Capone name and photograph, in whose name he set up a copycat Facebook account, to pretend to single the young women out from among thousands of Capone's followers. The women testified that they were surprised and flattered when Capone, the internet persona of actor Alex Drummond of New Jersey, began corresp0nding with them directly.

They said they were taken aback and were uncertain how to respond when the celebrity began talking to them about sex and asked if they could send photos of themselves in partially dressed poses. The man they thought was Capone would tell each that although he lived primarily in New Jersey, he also had a house close to the cities where they lived, planned to visit soon and hoped to meet them.

A Colorado woman who is now 18, but was 16 at the time, testified that she sent a photo of herself partially nude that she took in her high school restroom, using the mirror. She said she became alarmed when "Capone" later told her, "We're about to play a game called Cooperate or Get Exposed."

Prosecutors said the "game" was the same for all the women and girls: that unless they sent the video of themselves completely nude, shaking their bottoms, he would post the previously sent, less explicit photos on their Facebook pages, where all their Facebook friends would see it.

The Colorado woman testified that even though she had sent him the partially dressed photo through Snapchat, where photos disappear, he showed her that he had captured it by taking a screenshot on his phone before it disappeared.

O'Leary and Bryant said the woman surprised the extortionist by telling him his online threat could be traced to his Internet Protocol address, and that she planned to go to the police. Then she did, after admitting to her mother what had happened.

An FBI agent testified that he found the other victims by subpoenaing records from the social media sites and the service providers that were used to send the threatening messages.

Cumbie is facing seven charges: one count of production of child pornography; two counts of attempted production of child pornography; and four counts of extortion.

One of the victims testified that she told "Capone" that she was 15, but she was actually 13 at the time. She testified that to appease the demand for a nude photo, she sent a collage of up-close images of body parts she found on the internet along with a clothed picture of herself, to make the extortionist think all were of her.

Cumbie's attorney, Robby Golden, admitted to jurors that Cumbie had suggestive conversations with women while pretending to be Capone, but said all the conversations that involved minors or extortion threats occurred during the five or six weeks that Cumbie's friend lived with him.

Cumbie testified Wednesday, at times becoming angry and accusing Bryant of playing "little tricks" on him. He repeatedly blamed his former roommate for the crimes, saying, "He ain't as dumb as he acts."

Golden asked jurors not to hold Cumbie's anger against him. He referred to Cumbie's testimony and an outburst Cumbie made Tuesday while the judge and attorneys were in a bench conference in a hallway but jurors and spectators remained in the courtroom. Cumbie's roommate was on the stand at the time, and Cumbie yelled from the defense table, "It's gonna come back on you!"

After jurors were sent out of the courtroom, U.S. District Judge James Moody admonished Cumbie to be quiet for the remainder of the trial.

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