Is it Harassment to Send Text Messages Threateninig to Reveal a Truth?
Full Question:
Answer:
If you have a no contact order, the tems of the order will determine how long it is in effect. Blackmail is a form of extortion in which the threat is to expose embarrassing, damaging information to family, friends or the public in exchange for payment of money or other advantage. It is a form of extortion but differs in that extortion involves depriving someone of property. Blackmail is the crime of threatening to reveal embarrassing, disgraceful or damaging information about a person to the public, family, spouse or associates unless money is paid to purchase silence. It is a form of extortion Because the information is usually substantially true, it is not revealing the information that is criminal, but demanding money to withhold it. Blackmail has been defined in the broad sense to mean "compelling someone to act against their will or gaining or attempting to gain something of value." Courts vary on interpreting what "something of value" includes, but it is not necessarily a money payment in all cases. A criminal complaint is typically filed with the local police department or prosecutor's office.
Harassment may consist of the abuse of authority that occurs when a person uses authority unreasonably to interfere with an employee or the employee's job. It includes humiliation, intimidation, threats, and coercion.
Invasion of privacy involves making something public in which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy
Please see the following OH statutes:
2917.21 Telecommunications harassment.
(A) No person shall knowingly make or cause to be made a telecommunication, or knowingly permit a telecommunication to be made from a telecommunications device under the person’s control, to another, if the caller does any of the following:
(1) Fails to identify the caller to the recipient of the telecommunication and makes the telecommunication with purpose to harass or abuse any person at the premises to which the telecommunication is made, whether or not actual communication takes place between the caller and a recipient;
(2) Describes, suggests, requests, or proposes that the caller, the recipient of the telecommunication, or any other person engage in sexual activity, and the recipient or another person at the premises to which the telecommunication is made has requested, in a previous telecommunication or in the immediate telecommunication, that the caller not make a telecommunication to the recipient or to the premises to which the telecommunication is made;
(3) During the telecommunication, violates section 2903.21 of the Revised Code;
(4) Knowingly states to the recipient of the telecommunication that the caller intends to cause damage to or destroy public or private property, and the recipient, any member of the recipient’s family, or any other person who resides at the premises to which the telecommunication is made owns, leases, resides, or works in, will at the time of the destruction or damaging be near or in, has the responsibility of protecting, or insures the property that will be destroyed or damaged;
(5) Knowingly makes the telecommunication to the recipient of the telecommunication, to another person at the premises to which the telecommunication is made, or to those premises, and the recipient or another person at those premises previously has told the caller not to make a telecommunication to those premises or to any persons at those premises.
(B) No person shall make or cause to be made a telecommunication, or permit a telecommunication to be made from a telecommunications device under the person’s control, with purpose to abuse, threaten, or harass another person.
(C)(1) Whoever violates this section is guilty of telecommunications harassment.
(2) A violation of division (A)(1), (2), (3), or (5) or (B) of this section is a misdemeanor of the first degree on a first offense and a felony of the fifth degree on each subsequent offense.
(3) Except as otherwise provided in division (C)(3) of this section, a violation of division (A)(4) of this section is a misdemeanor of the first degree on a first offense and a felony of the fifth degree on each subsequent offense. If a violation of division (A)(4) of this section results in economic harm of five hundred dollars or more but less than five thousand dollars, telecommunications harassment is a felony of the fifth degree. If a violation of division (A)(4) of this section results in economic harm of five thousand dollars or more but less than one hundred thousand dollars, telecommunications harassment is a felony of the fourth degree. If a violation of division (A)(4) of this section results in economic harm of one hundred thousand dollars or more, telecommunications harassment is a felony of the third degree.
(D) No cause of action may be asserted in any court of this state against any provider of a telecommunications service or information service, or against any officer, employee, or agent of a telecommunication service or information service, for any injury, death, or loss to person or property that allegedly arises out of the provider’s, officer’s, employee’s, or agent’s provision of information, facilities, or assistance in accordance with the terms of a court order that is issued in relation to the investigation or prosecution of an alleged violation of this section or section 4931.31 of the Revised Code. A provider of a telecommunications service or information service, or an officer, employee, or agent of a telecommunications service or information service, is immune from any civil or criminal liability for injury, death, or loss to person or property that allegedly arises out of the provider’s, officer’s, employee’s, or agent’s provision of information, facilities, or assistance in accordance with the terms of a court order that is issued in relation to the investigation or prosecution of an alleged violation of this section or section 4931.31 of the Revised Code.
(E) As used in this section:
(1) “Economic harm” means all direct, incidental, and consequential pecuniary harm suffered by a victim as a result of criminal conduct. “Economic harm” includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:
(a) All wages, salaries, or other compensation lost as a result of the criminal conduct;
(b) The cost of all wages, salaries, or other compensation paid to employees for time those employees are prevented from working as a result of the criminal conduct;
(c) The overhead costs incurred for the time that a business is shut down as a result of the criminal conduct;
(d) The loss of value to tangible or intangible property that was damaged as a result of the criminal conduct.
(2) “Caller” means the person described in division (A) of this section who makes or causes to be made a telecommunication or who permits a telecommunication to be made from a telecommunications device under that person’s control.
(3) “Telecommunication” and “telecommunications device” have the same meanings as in section 2913.01 of the Revised Code.
(4) “Sexual activity” has the same meaning as in section 2907.01 of the Revised Code.
(F) Nothing in this section prohibits a person from making a telecommunication to a debtor that is in compliance with the “Fair Debt Collection Practices Act,” 91 Stat. 874 (1977), 1692, as amended, or the “Telephone Consumer Protection Act,” 105 Stat. 2395 (1991), 227, as amended.
4931.31 Threat or harassment in telephone communication prohibited - directory notice.
No person shall, while communicating with any other person over a telephone, threaten to do bodily harm or use or address to such other person any words or language of a lewd, lascivious, or indecent character, nature, or connotation for the sole purpose of annoying such other person; nor shall any person telephone any other person repeatedly or cause any person to be telephoned repeatedly for the sole purpose of harassing or molesting such other person or his family. Any use, communication, or act prohibited by this section may be deemed to have occurred or to have been committed at either the place at which the telephone call was made or was received. Every telephone directory distributed to the general public in this state which lists the calling numbers of telephones of any telephone exchange located in this state shall contain a notice which explains the offenses provided for in this section, such notice to be printed in type which is not smaller than the general body of the other type on the same page and to be preceded by the word “warning” printed in type with at least equal prominence as the headings of other regulations or information on the same page; provided, that the provision of this section shall not apply to those directories distributed solely for business advertising purposes, commonly known as classified directories, nor to any telephone directory distributed or for which copy has been sent to the printer or is in the process of printing or distribution to the general public prior to August 14, 1959. Any person, firm, or corporation providing telephone service which distributes or causes to be distributed in this state one or more copies of a telephone directory which is subject to the provisions of this section and which willfully omits such notice is guilty of a violation of this section.
2905.11 Extortion.
(A) No person, with purpose to obtain any valuable thing or valuable benefit or to induce another to do an unlawful act, shall do any of the following:
(1) Threaten to commit any felony;
(2) Threaten to commit any offense of violence;
(3) Violate section 2903.21 or 2903.22 of the Revised Code;
(4) Utter or threaten any calumny against any person;
(5) Expose or threaten to expose any matter tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule, or to damage any person’s personal or business repute, or to impair any person’s credit.
(B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of extortion, a felony of the third degree.
(C) As used in this section, “threat” includes a direct threat and a threat by innuendo.
