Youth Faces Hearing On Blackmail Charge, Evening Star (Article, May 1954)

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Youth Faces Hearing On Blackmail Charge

A 20-year-old youth today faced a Municipal Court hearing on a blackmail charge after a sailor told police he had paid out nearly $300 and his car on a threat the Navy would be told he was a homosexual.

Police said there was no record or evidence to indicate the sailor was a homosexual. His explanation for yielding to blackmail was that he feared his Navy career would be jeopardized after 11 years of service.

Capt. Richard McCarty, head of the robbery squad, said the accused blackmailer, William G. Hines, jr., of the 300 block of Thirty-seventh place S.E., admitted to police that he had been living off blackmail activities for months.

Capt. McCarty said the sailor told police he had met two men in Lafayette Park and went to have a beer with them. He said in the course of the ride they identified themselves as police officers and threatened to arrest him as a homosexual or tell the Navy about him.

The sailor told police he gave the pair $100 on the next payday, $35 and his car on April 8, borrowed $100 from a loan company to meet the next demand from Hines and finally went to police after another demand for $60.

Police arrested Hines in Fairlawn Park yesterday after the sailor had given Hines $40 in marked money.