Salineville residents face extortion charges

CARROLLTON, Ohio (AP) -- Two people have been charged with luring sexual predators to a church and robbing them, authorities said.
Michael Barnett, 22, and Maria Catini, 21, both of Salineville, were arrested Saturday and were being held in Carroll County jail, each on one count of extortion and one count of aiding and abetting, sheriff's Deputy Ron Clapper said Monday.
Nude pictures of Catini in which she claimed to be 15 were posted on the Internet to draw people to the grounds of a church near Salineville so they could be robbed, Clapper said.
Investigators said they don't know how many people fell prey or how much money was taken.
"We have no victims that have come forward, and the sensitivity of this probably is going to make the victims hard to locate," Clapper said.
The sheriff's office launched the investigation based on an anonymous tip. Up to 14 others may have been involved, Clapper said, though investigators believe Barnett and Catini were the ringleaders.
Bond was set at $1 million each. Clapper said he expected more charges to be filed.