Man faces stalking, extortion charges in Centre County

A North Carolina man faces charges in Centre County after reportedly threatening a woman via the photo and video-sharing app Snapchat.

According to the criminal complaint filed by Penn State police, a woman met with detectives on Feb. 16 regarding a stalking incident. The woman reported that in November or December 2016, she received a friend request on Snapchat from Shane Stark, 24, of Pittsboro, N.C.

The woman said the two had attended high school together and were friends on Facebook, police said, and began having conversations via Facebook and Snapchat.

The woman reported that on Feb. 11, the conversation had turned sexual and they both had shared explicit photos and videos consensually, police said. Snapchat conversations are not saved and if a user takes a screenshot of the message, the other user is notified. The woman said she was never notified that the messages were being captured.

The next day, the woman said she regretted her actions and told Stark she didn’t want to speak with him anymore, police said, but he continued to request explicit photos. On Feb. 13, Stark reportedly sent her the nude photos she originally sent him.

It’s unknown how Stark was able to save the messages at this time, police said.

Start reportedly sent more images and threatened to forward them to all the woman’s friends and family, police said. When the woman attempted to refuse to send additional photos, he allegedly threatened to “ruin her life.”

The woman was reportedly able to message Stark in the presence of officers for several days, police said.

Stark allegedly warned the woman “this is your last chance” to send the requested photos on Feb. 19, police said. She deleted him from her account on Feb. 22.

Stark was arrested in North Carolina for active warrants issued out of Patton Township and transferred to Centre County Correctional Facility on March 22, police said. He was arraigned Thursday before District Judge Carmine Prestia, according to court documents, and charged with three misdemeanor counts of stalking, harassment and theft by extortion.

Bail was set at $50,000 straight, court documents said. A preliminary hearing is set for April 12.

This story was originally published April 6, 2017 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Man faces stalking, extortion charges in Centre County."