Man accused of sex tape 'blackmail'

SANDPOINT — Lonnie Lee Allen’s criminal troubles in Idaho are drawing to a close, but they’re just getting started in Iowa.

Allen, 39, was sentenced Thursday in a felony domestic abuse case in which he was accused of choking a girlfriend and threatening to destroy her reputation by exposing a sex tape the two made.

Allen was given a suspended prison term of 1-3 years after entering a plea to attempted strangulation and serving almost five months in the Bonner County Jail awaiting trial.

Allen, a visitor from Spokane, Wash., was arrested last August following a rolling domestic dispute on U.S. Highway 2. A search of his car led to the discovery of 25 videotapes of him having sex with various women.

No criminal charges were filed in Idaho in connection with the tapes because the 40-year-old victim in the choking case was apparently a willing participant in the filming.

A condition of Allen’s probation in Idaho requires him to return to Iowa to face a charge of extortion.

Documents obtained by The Daily Bee indicate Allen threatened to expose another former lover in Dubuque, Iowa, with a sex tape that she initially didn’t know even existed.

A 24-year-old woman told Dubuque Police that Allen threatened to show the sex tape to friends and family members if she badmouthed him to others.

“(The alleged victim) had recently reported that Allen tried to use the video tapes as blackmail to keep his name in good standing,” Officer Justin Weidemann said in a July 2009 police report.

Under Iowa law, a person can be charged with extortion if they threaten to expose another to hatred, contempt or ridicule, or if they threaten to harm a business or professional reputation.