Authorities: Man Took Sexual Photos of Woman, Attempted to Extort Money

A Redondo Beach man was in custody Friday, accused of attempting to extort a woman he was having a sexual relationship with, allegedly threatening to share her nude photos if she didn’t pay him. Joel Daza, 44, was arrested Thursday at a hotel on Sunnymead Boulevard in Moreno Valley, the day after an identified woman contacted authorities alleging he took photos of her during their "intimate encounters" without her consent and was now using those photos to attempt to extort her, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department reported. Authorities say Daza was threatening to share the photos if she didn’t pay him an unspecified sum of money, or if she stopped seeing him. Daza is currently being investigated by the Anaheim Police Department for a similar case, sheriff’s officials said. A meetup between Daza and the victim was arranged Thursday at a local hotel, while sheriff’s deputies surveilled nearby. Upon his arrival, Daza was arrested on suspicion of extortion, eavesdropping, cyber stalking, revenge porn and harassment over the phone, jail records show. He was booked at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside, where remains on $250,000 bail. His arraignment is scheduled for Monday at the Riverside Hall of Justice.