‘Victim’ is convicted of trying extortion

A Newport Beach woman was convicted of trying to extort $15,000 from a 37-year-old man she met on an online dating website for wealthy men and women and their younger lovers.

Susanna Maria Coetzee, 28, pleaded guilty to threatening and attempting extortion and a misdemeanor count of filing a false police report.

On April 1, 2009, Coetzee met her victim for drinks after talking online through www.seekingarrangments.com, geared toward “Sugar Daddies, Mommies and Babies.”

The website is designed for wealthy men and women seeking attractive “babies” they will financially support as part of their relationship.

After drinks in a hotel in Anaheim, the two went upstairs to a room and began having consensual sex.

Within moments of starting to have sex, prosecutors said Coetzee stopped and demanded money. When the man refused, she accused him of trying to rape her and ran out of the room, screaming she’d been attacked. She later filed a police report with Anaheim police. She told police the man had shoved a pillow over her face to keep her from screaming and raped her and hit her on the head with the hand set from hotel room phone. She said he had unplugged the phone to keep her from calling for help.

Over the next two weeks, Coetzee sent the man dozens of text messages trying to extort $15,000 in exchange for her not moving forward with her rape allegation.

On April 14 Coetzee met the man outside of the Block in Orange to exchange $5,000 for a letter from her exonerating him from her rape allegations. Police had set up the meeting and arrested Coetzee after the money was exchanged.

Coetzee was sentenced to 127 days in jail and five years’ formal probation.

— Joseph Serna