MARION, Ill. (WJPF) – The Williamson County Sheriff’s Office says they’ve stopped an extortion scheme in which a sheriff’s deputy was being falsely accused of sexual misconduct. 

On August 5, Nathan Behrens and Alexis Horton were arrested in Williamson County on meth and gun charges after a traffic stop. They were both taken to jail.  Alexis Horton was released on bond while Nathan Behrens remained behind bars.

On September 1, police became aware of a letter Behrens wrote to Horton from jail that was circulating on social media. It contained false allegations of sexual misconduct by the deputy who arrested Horton in August.

Telephone conversations, recorded when Horton visited Behrens in jail, and later a confession from Alexis Horton herself, detailed the plot to extort the sheriff’s office into dropping all charges against the pair connected to the August arrest and to pay off Behrens and Horton to keep the false accusations quiet.

Nathan Behrens and Alexis Horton now face new charges including conspiracy to defraud a governmental entity, filing a false police report, and obstruction of justice.