2 Accused In Internet Extortion Scheme Against Boss

ORANGE COUNTY, NY — Two Montgomery residents are accused of extorting $9,000 from one of their employers by threatening to make false public statements on the internet that would harm the victim's business.

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler said Ally Thueson, 32, and Elizabeth Sloanhoffer, 33, were charged with Grand Larceny in the Third Degree and Coercion in the Third Degree.

As the charges were not bail eligible, both were released with an appearance ticket to return to the Village of Montgomery court on a later date.

As alleged in charges filed in court, the two women, acting individually and in concert with one
another, extorted $9,000 from Thueson’s employer by threatening to make false public
statements via the internet which would materially harm the victim’s business.

Thueson is a former police officer turned internet model, News 12 Hudson Valley reported.

They were arrested by the multi-agency Orange County White Collar Crime Task Force, which includes investigators from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the New York State Department of Financial Services, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and several other local police agencies including the Town of Newburgh Police Department, the Village of Warwick Police Department, the Village of Goshen Police Department and the Town of Woodbury Police Department.

It was created in March 2023 to focus on enhancing the investigation and prosecution of public corruption and financial crimes. The Task Force’s mandate includes the investigation of residential contractor fraud; crimes involving public integrity, public corruption, and ethics violations; embezzlement and other complex theft cases, crimes against revenue; wage theft and labor law violations.

Hoovler thanked the members of the Task Force for the investigation which led to the arrest of the defendants.

“Small business owners deserve to operate free of coercive threats of reputational harm,” Hoovler said. “These alleged criminal acts are the exact types of crimes that often go unreported and are uncovered by the hard work of the Task Force. The effectiveness of these types of investigations is driven by the cooperative and skilled work of the investigators who root out crimes that might otherwise go undetected.”

The case is being prosecuted by Chief Trial Assistant District Attorney Richard Moran.
A criminal charge is merely an allegation by the police that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the State of New York’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.