NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man has pleaded guilty to demanding $10,000 from a former state senator over an affair with a legislative intern.
A spokeswoman for Nashville's District Attorney General's office said 29-year-old Joel Watts was sentenced Thursday to a year of probation for facilitation of extortion.
According to court documents, in April 2009 Watts demanded money from then-Sen. Paul Stanley for explicit photos of a 22-year-old intern that were taken in Stanley's Nashville apartment. Watts, the intern's boyfriend, threatened to send the photos to the media if the Germantown Republican did not pay.
Stanley contacted the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which arranged for him to record a meeting with Watts where he exchanged the money for the photos.
Stanley resigned in August 2009 after nearly a decade in the Legislature.
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