Stratford Man Gets 2 Years In Jail

Thursday, 3 May 2018 12:26

Josh Alexander plead guilty to his 11 counts of extortion and one count of criminal harassment in provincial court on Tuesday.

STRATFORD - A 23 year old man from Stratford has been sentenced to two years in jail for extortion.

In a case of extreme cyberbullying, Josh Alexander plead guilty to his 11 counts of extortion and one count of criminal harassment in provincial court on Tuesday.

The 17 victims say he threatened to share their intimate photos publicly and with their family and friends, in an effort to coerce them into providing more images. Alexander allegedly created several fake accounts online to execute the cyberbullying and extortion.

Originally when Alexander was arrested in December of 2017, there were a total of 35 criminal charged laid, and 16 counts of extortion; in March there were and an additional 6 charges of sexual assault, and another another count of extortion.

Outside the Stratford Court House, Alexander's defence lawyer Karl Toews felt it was necessary to clarify the actions of his client to reporters.

"What happened here and what people need to understand, Mr.Alexander is a young man, who just turned 23, what he did, is he used images that were provided voluntarily by the victims, the victims were all of a similar age to him. He used those images then as a means of extorting those victims to provide more such images."

In relation to the sexual assault charges and the child pornography, Toews said his client's charges were dropped.

"One of the victims was under the age of 18, that led to Mr.Alexander being charged with something relating to Child Pornography, however I can tell you in Canadian law, an image of someone under 18 can be considered child pornography. So the Crown Attorney used her discretion to withdraw that charge and all of the sexual assault charges were withdrawn."

Alexander is also facing two years of probation, he will be subject to a DNA order, as well as a 10-year weapons prohibition order. The Stratford native will also require adult supervision to access the internet.