You mad bro?

Pittsburgh Man Arrested For Trying To Extort Hines Ward

Via ABCNews

A man who claims his girlfriend had a “physical relationship” with retired Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward was in custody Friday, accused of trying to extort $15,000 by threatening to release evidence that Ward had paid for sex.

Joshua Van Auker, 26, of Pittsburgh, awaited arraignment on two felony counts of attempted extortion.

Van Auker was arrested Thursday by detectives from the Allegheny County district attorney’s office after he allegedly met with Ward’s personal assistant, Raymond Burgess, who paid him the money in exchange for unspecified “materials” in an envelope that Van Auker said could prove his claims, according to a criminal complaint. Detectives monitoring that exchange then arrested Van Auker but have not said what was in the envelope.

Online court records don’t list an attorney for Van Auker.

A spokesman for Ward, Andrew Ree, called the alleged extortion attempt “the act of a desperate individual trying to get money from a celebrity.”

Ninjas ain’t isht, always plotting on somebody else’s bread…

According to the complaint, Burgess contacted the prosecutor’s office on Wednesday to say he had gotten a text message from Van Auker containing the extortion message.

If payment was not made, the message said, Van Auker planned to sell or release materials alleging Ward paid women for sex, thereby exposing him to “ridicule or contempt,” according to the complaint.

Burgess told investigators Van Auker decided to make the demands after learning his girlfriend “had been involved in a prior physical relationship with Ward,” the complaint said.

The woman is not identified in the complaint. One of two charges against Van Auker says he “threatened to publicly accuse the victim of soliciting prostitutes.”

After contacting investigators, Burgess again spoke with Van Auker, who allegedly repeated the extortion demand by saying, “It’s called buying silence, brother,” the complaint said.

So basically, homie found out Hines used to chop-down his boo-thang and figured he could get a couple dollars out of the situation. We’re guessing he didn’t think this thing through too well…SMH

Image via