Three Washington-area women charged with extorting woman in fake kidnapping scheme

Three Washington-area women are facing extortion charges, accused by D.C. police of staging a fake kidnapping to collect ransom money.

The Metropolitan Police Department said that on the evening of Dec. 4, the victim was contacted via Facetime and shown her friend bound and gagged, followed by a message demanding a ransom payment.

The police did not specify the friend’s name, but court documents identified her as suspect Shante Duncan Sanders, 36, of the District. The victim and Ms. Sanders knew each other from a homeless shelter.

When the victim said via text that she didn’t have any money, the other party responded via Ms. Sanders’ phone, “Oh well guess she gonna die a slow painful death knowing that you ain’t do [expletive] to help her you have one hour to come up with the money or its bye bye tay,” according to court documents.

The victim contacted police, who went to the 1900 block of Massachusetts Avenue Southeast and started their search for Ms. Sanders.

Detectives found suspects Nordia Coy, 42, of the District, and her sister Asia Coy, 34, of Silver Spring, trying to enter a building law enforcement matched to a picture sent to the victim at around 12:45 a.m. that night, according to court documents.

Nordia Coy told police that she had spent time with her children’s godmother, who turned out to be Ms. Sanders, earlier in the evening, according to court documents. Detectives found Ms. Sanders in Nordia Coy’s apartment, unharmed.

Ms. Sanders told detectives that she had never actually been held against her will, that she had gotten intoxicated and that she did not remember messaging the victim. Nordia Coy told officers that the messages were the result of her 13-year-old son “playing around,” according to court documents.

Detectives arrested both Ms. Sanders and Nordia Coy at the scene.

Police spoke to the victim in the days after the incident, and the victim accused Asia Coy of being the woman who appeared over Facetime, according to court documents.

Asia Coy was arrested Feb. 19 by the U.S. Marshals Service on a warrant issued by the D.C. Superior Court. All three suspects are charged with extortion, police said.

Asia Coy is next due in court on March 11, while Ms. Sanders is next due in court on April 24. Nordia Coy’s court records do not mention her next court date.