William Ryan Holt
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Born May 28, 1971, Holt was convicted of attempting to extort supermodel Elle Macpherson.
[edit] Attempted Extortion of Elle Macpherson
On July 12th and 23rd of 1997, William Ryan Holt and his accomplice Michael Mischler burglarized Macpherson's Los Angeles home while she was away on business in Chicago. The pair stole an estimated $100,000 worth of jewlery, $6,000 in cash and 15 nude photographs.
On June 23, 1997, the pair left a manilla envelope on the dashboard of Macpherson's Ford Explorer. Inside the envelope was a computer generated note demanding $60,000 and a nude photograph that had been taken from the residence. The note informed Macpherson that if the demand was not met, the photo would be posted on the Internet. The note instructed Macpherson to leave the money in an envelope on top of her mailbox at 11 p.m. Friday, July 27, 1997.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office began an investigation on July 23, 1997 and attempted a sting by placing an envelope filled with fake cash that was dusted with flourescent powder at the location.
Holt and Mischler realized that law enforcement had been called in and aborted the first pick up. On August 1, 1997, the pair left a note on the windshield of Tony Melia's Mercedes Benz. Melia was Macpherson's landlord. The second note, also computer generated, demanded an additional $20,000 from Macpherson as a penalty for going to law enforcement. The note told Melia and Macpherson that they would be contacted on August 3rd with instructions on how to handle the money drop.
A third computer generated note was left on the gate of Melia's residential compound. That note was identical to the second note and contained additional nude photographs of Macpherson.
On August 4, 1997, Macpherson received a telephone call from the duo and was told that she would be called again at 7:30 p.m. that evening with instructions on where to leave the money. The call came in at 7:25 p.m. and was tapped by Investigators. The duo, using an electronic voice changing device, told Macpherson to drop the money near a pillar in a parking structure at the Beverly Center shopping mall. The telephone call was traced to a telephone numbered (213) 200-9576. Investigators determined that this was a cell phone.
Investigators set up surveillance at the drop location and Macpherson, in cooperation with law enforcement, made the money drop as instructed by the duo. A brief persuit began after investigators witnessed a man step out of a vehicle, retrieve the money and return to the vehicle. The pursuit ended after Mischler crashed the vehicle in the parking structure.
Holt, a former Air Force servicemember and a military inmate on parole, was initially charged with two counts of extortion. He eventually pleaded guilty to one count of extortion and was sentenced to one-year in jail. After completing his sentence in the McPherson case, he was returned to military custody where he served out the remainder of his military sentence at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
[edit] Sources
- Celebrity1000.com -- profile for Elle MacPherson
- SouthCoast Today, 24 July 1997, "Elle Macpherson says she was the victim of burglary..."
- SouthCoast Today,6 Dec. 1997, "Two men pleaded guilty..."
- The Smoking Gun
