Burkburnett, Texas Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Extorting Money Through Telephone Threats

ALBUQUERQUE – Steven Manuel White, 37, of Burkburnett, Texas, was sentenced in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., this morning for violating the Hobbs Act by extorting money from another man by making threats of violence.  White was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release.  He also was ordered to pay $2000.00 in restitution to the victim of his criminal conduct.

White and co-defendant Stacy Renee Campbell, 30, of Roswell, N.M., were charged in Aug. 2013, in a criminal complaint alleging that they extorted $2000.00 from the victim by sending text messages threatening to disclose the victim’s affair with Campbell.  As directed by the threatening text messages, the victim wire-transferred $2000.00 from Roswell to the defendants in Wichita Falls, Texas.  White then attempted to extort another $2000.00 from the victim.  When the victim’s wife called White to say that his extortion threats would not work because she knew of the affair, White allegedly threatened to kill her and the victim.  White and Campbell subsequently were arrested in the Northern District of Texas (Lubbock) and transferred to the District of New Mexico to face the charges in this case.

White pleaded guilty on Feb. 11, 2014, to violating the Hobbs Act by extorting money by making threats of violence.  In entering his guilty plea, White admitted extorting $2000.00 from the victim in exchange for not disclosing the victim’s affair with Campbell. White acknowledged sending his demands and directions on how to facilitate the payment using text messaging and that the victim was traveling in interstate commerce from Lubbock to Roswell during this time.

Campbell entered a guilty plea on Feb. 11, 2014, to being an accessory after the fact.  In her plea agreement, Campbell admitted making false statements to a detective of the Roswell Police Department.  Specifically, Campbell admitted lying to the detective in order to prevent him from learning White’s identify in order to assist White in avoiding arrest and prosecution for his extortion of the victim.

At sentencing, Campbell faces a statutory maximum penalty of ten years in prison.  Her sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled. 

This case was investigated by the Roswell office of the FBI and the Roswell Police Department and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna R. Wright of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.