Sex Scheme Nets Prison Sentences

(Nassau County, New York) A 35-year-old woman, Shawn Payne, has been sentenced to two to six years in prison for grand larceny related to a sex extortion scheme.

Payne and conspirator Michael Largue, 46, both pleaded guilty to secretly taping sex trysts with partners found on the Internet and then blackmailing them by threatening to make the images public if not paid.

"Granted these things I did were terrible, but life throws cruel, chaotic curveballs, causing even the most stable, intelligent and well-meaning person to lose sight of the right path," Payne read from a prepared statement to Nassau Judge George Peck before he sentenced her in a nearly empty Mineola courtroom to 2 to 6 years in prison.

Payne's co-conspirator and former lover, Largue, was sentenced last November to four to eight years in prison.

Tip: slwlion