2 accused in online extortion scheme against boss

ORANGE COUNTY, NY – Two Montgomery residents are accused of extorting $9,000 from one of their employers by threatening to make false public statements online that would harm the victim’s business.

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler said Ally Thueson, 32, and Elizabeth Sloanhoffer, 33, were charged with Third Degree Grand Theft and Third Degree Extortion.

Since the charges were not eligible for bail, both were released on an appearance ticket to return to Montgomery Village Court at a later date.

As alleged in the charges presented to the court, the two women, acting individually and in collaboration with one
another extorted $9,000 from Thueson’s employer by threatening to make false statements
statements via the Internet which would materially damage the victim’s business.

Thueson is a former police officer turned Internet model, News 12 Hudson Valley reported.

They were arrested by the multi-agency Orange County White Collar Crime Task Force, which includes investigators from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the New York State Department of Financial Services, the New York State Department of Taxation York and Finance and several other local police agencies, including the Town of Newburgh Police Department, the Village of Warwick Police Department, the Village of Goshen Police Department and the Town of Woodbury Police Department.

It was established in March 2023 to focus on increasing the investigation and prosecution of public corruption and financial crimes. The Task Force’s mandate includes investigating residential contractor fraud; crimes involving public integrity, public corruption and ethics violations; embezzlement and other complex cases of theft, crimes against income; wage theft and labor law violations.

Hoovler thanked members of the Task Force for the investigation that led to the arrest of the defendants.

“Small business owners deserve to operate without coercive threats of reputational damage,” Hoovler said. “These alleged criminal acts are the exact types of crimes that often go unreported and are uncovered through the hard work of the Task Force. The effectiveness of these types of investigations is driven by the cooperative and skilled work of investigators who root out crimes that might otherwise go undetected.”

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Judicial District Attorney Richard Moran.
A criminal charge is simply an allegation by the police that the defendant committed a criminal law violation and is not proof of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial, during which it shall be the burden of the State of New York to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.