18.2-59 - Extortion of money, property or pecuniary benefit. - Virginia Statutes

§ 18.2-59. Extortion of money, property or pecuniary benefit.

Any person who (i) threatens injury to the character, person, or property ofanother person, (ii) accuses him of any offense, (iii) threatens to reporthim as being illegally present in the United States, or (iv) knowinglydestroys, conceals, removes, confiscates, withholds or threatens to withhold,or possesses any actual or purported passport or other immigration document,or any other actual or purported government identification document, ofanother person, and thereby extorts money, property, or pecuniary benefit orany note, bond, or other evidence of debt from him or any other person, isguilty of a Class 5 felony.

For the purposes of this section, injury to property includes the sale,distribution, or release of identifying information defined in clauses (iii)through (xii) of subsection C of § 18.2-186.3, but does not include thedistribution or release of such information by a person who does so with theintent to obtain money, property or a pecuniary benefit to which hereasonably believes he is lawfully entitled.

(Code 1950, § 18.1-184; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15; 2006, c. 313; 2007,cc. 453, 547; 2010, c. 298.)