After University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey reported to campus police that she believed the man she had been dating was extorting her, officers told her there wasn’t much they could do.
But Melvin S. Rowland, who she had warned them about, was apparently worried about the consequences.
Three days after McCluskey talked to police on Oct. 13 about the anonymous threat she received, Rowland confided in a friend about what he was doing. He explained how he asked a woman to send him $1,000 or he would release compromising pictures of her. He said he believed she told officers about it.