The three racketeers who blackmailed a woman for BGN 173,000 were arrested.

The Plovdiv District Court remanded the group of three Sofia residents, including a mother of two small children, into custody, accused of blackmailing a woman for BGN 173,000.

The married couple Nikoleta Petkova and Teodor Sergiev, as well as Filip Spasov, threatened and blackmailed 46-year-old Atanaska Domuschieva from Stamboliyski to transfer the large sum to them. The extortion lasted from December to the end of February.

The racketeers were led by a prisoner named Georgi Georgiev, who is serving a sentence in the Varna prison. The injured woman had debts on various loans of the type of quick loans, and from an advertisement on the Internet, the three deceived her that they could help her by arranging the due payments advantageously for her. Backed into a corner, the woman naively latched onto their rosy promises and agreed to all the subsequent actions of the clever manipulators.

Gradually, however, they tightly controlled all her contacts, correspondence and communications, and after the repayment of the debts, they first demanded a 20,000 BGN commission for the service, and then more and more money, already accompanied by death threats to her and her family. They forced to take out new and new credits and bank loans, and the woman from the group – Nicoleta, closely accompanied her to every operation, taking away her phone and blocking all her contacts.

The man and Theodore drove her to Tsalapitsa, where the victim worked to collect and deliver the money. The third of the group – Philip – organized the threats, including death threats, to her and her children. The mastermind of the operation, who was in the Varna prison, turned out to have two phones that were later discovered, and managed the whole scheme from the cell.

The injured woman was brought to a complete mental breakdown, and in the end she even attempted suicide, and only a random person saved her life and, finding her in time, said the prosecutor in the case Svetlozar Cheradzhiyski.

The extortionist couple has two small children, which is why the mother, Nikoleta Petkova, asked the magistrates for a lenient measure to take care of them. However, the court ignored the cries and tears, generally recalling that, having been engaged in criminal activity for a long time, they should have thought about their parental duties in time.

As a result, all three accused of extortion remain in custody for now. Their decision is definitely subject to appeal. The investigation continues with the possibility of uncovering other hits of the racketeering group.

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