By Nathan Clark
mlive.com
WASHTENAW COUNTY, Mich. — A prisoner at the Milan Federal Correctional Institution in Washtenaw County is facing a new set of federal charges for crimes he is accused of committing while incarcerated.
A complaint was filed Dec. 19 against David Verner charging him with making threatening communications, stalking and possession of contraband, according to the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan.
The complaint alleges Verner, 43, staked and attempted to extort the family of another prisoner who Verner claimed owed him thousands of dollars, records show.
The FBI began investigating Verner after the victim, a prisoner at the facility not named in the indictment, reported to prison staff on Feb. 15 he owed Verner $3,500 and needed to be placed in protective custody, court records show.
The $3,500 debt was from activity prior to his incarceration and was passed to Verner, the prisoner said.
Verner found out the prisoner was serving time for white-collar offenses and sought to contact the victim’s family to force them to either pay the debt or cooperate in a scheme to create fraudulent checks for Verner and his associates outside of the prison, records show.
Two members of the victim’s family on March 20 contacted the federal prison to report Verner contacted them. They provided Facebook Messenger chats with him, court records show.
In the first message, dated Feb. 16, Verner told the victim’s family he was owed money and tells them to send him the debt via Cash App, records show.
The victim’s family refused and after some back and forth, they asked Verner to send them a photo of himself. He sent two photos, which the FBI verified were images of Verner, court records show.
Verner continued to contact the family for the next few days demanding money until Feb. 26 when his messages became sexual. He demanded lewd photos while describing sexual acts he would do to them, court records show.
He then threatened to harm the victim if he didn’t get the money soon, according to court records.
“This is harassment please leave me alone. I really don’t have money and don’t know what (the victim) did with it, but this is between you and him. Have a nice day,” the victim’s family wrote.
Verner continued to berate the family with threats and sexual advances until March when the victim was placed in protective custody, court records show.
The FBI determined Verner was contacting the family with a cellphone smuggled into the facility, according to the affidavit.
No future court dates have been scheduled. Verner is in prison after being convicted of aiding and abetting a conspiracy to sell more than 100 grams of heroin in Minnesota, court records show.
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