A former Baylor basketball player was arrested this week for trying to extort Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, the latest example of how extortion is a fairly common occurrence for professional athletes. And now there’s another pro athlete who says someone is trying to extort him: Terrell Owens.
Owens, the former (and, he hopes, future) NFL wide receiver, says that a woman who has been trying to sell what she claims are embarrassing pictures of him is engaged in extortion. Owens told Philly.com that the woman, who previously tried and failed to sell pictures of him to TMZ, is just trying to get money.
“It’s obvious that she has nothing because it’s illegal with what she’s trying to do or otherwise TMZ would have bought the photos,” Owens said. “This is a case of extortion, this is a waste of my time and you’re wasting your time because I have nothing to say.”
If this woman is really trying to get money out of Owens, she’d be wise to stop wasting her time: From all indications Owens doesn’t have much money to spare these days. But it appears that the woman is more interested in finding a media outlet willing to pay her for the pictures. Owens told Philly.com he doesn’t understand why anyone is even writing about it.
“I’m not sure what you or her are trying to accomplish,” Owens said. “At the end of the day God is good. It’s unfortunate people make attempts to ruin people’s lives.”
If this woman is really trying to extort Owens and ruin his life, he’d be wise to handle the situation exactly the way Griffin did, and go to the authorities.