New Jersey Man Sentenced to Two Years for Extortion

Contact: Gail Fisk Malone
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 945-0373

Bangor, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Patrick
Curley, 51, of Passaic, New Jersey, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to two years in
prison and one year of supervised release for extortion. He pled guilty on April 7, 2013.

According to court documents, in March 2010, Curley applied on-line for a job with
Vescom, a Hampden, Maine-based security firm. On April 21, 2010, Curley met Vescom’s
Senior Vice President for a job interview in New York. In e-mails and a voice message left after
the interview, he expressed ongoing interest in the job. On April 27, however, he e-mailed
Vescom’s Senior Vice President and falsely accused her of sexual harassment and discrimination
and threatened to sue. In the months that followed, both he and an attorney representing him
contacted Vescom employees and staff counsel seeking $130,000 to settle the claims and
threatening to sue and take his claims to the media if they could not reach a financial
settlement. Curley’s claims of sexual harassment and discrimination were false and were
intended to extort money from Vescom.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.