COLUMBUS , Ohio (WJW) — Gov. Mike DeWine in a Wednesday afternoon ceremony signed a bill into law that makes sexual extortion a felony offense in Ohio.
Ohio House Bill 531, called Braden’s Law, creates the offense of sexual extortion, in which a person threatens to release private images of another person, in order to compel them into acting against their will, or giving them more private images or something else of value, like money.
The offense is a third-degree felony, but is upgraded to a second-degree felony if the victim is younger than 18, an elderly person or a disabled adult. After two offenses against those protected groups, the charge is upgraded to a first-degree felony.
Under the new law, sentencing courts must consider the physical or psychological impact the crime had on the victim — including whether the person harmed themselves or died by suicide as a result of being extorted.
The bill also forces telecommunications companies, through which perpetrators communicate with their victims, to comply with court-issued search or interception warrants for those communications, regardless of whether the data sought by investigators is stored in another state.