Former Model Arrested In Sextortion Plot

SEPTEMBER 11--A former model is facing a felony rap after allegedly seeking to extort money from a wealthy Michigan businessman to whom she sent suggestive photos and exchanged sexually charged text and voice messages, The Smoking Gun has learned.

Mirella Dzioba, 33, is charged with hatching a scheme to score a six-figure hush money payment from the married executive. Pictured below, Dzioba was freed on $10,000 bond after appearing Monday in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

The 61-year-old victim, who lives in a large lakefront home, did not respond to TSG messages left with his wife. The man is not named in court documents that describe him only as a “wealthy businessman...in the Detroit metropolitan area.”

According to an FBI affidavit, Dzioba, who works for a real estate agency, met the victim at a closing in July. “Dzioba subsequently asked the victim if he would accompany her for a drink at a later time, to which the victim agreed,” reported FBI Agent Marc Silski.

When the pair met at a Rochester restaurant, the married Dzioba told the man that she “enjoyed ‘strong’ men speaking to her in a sexual manner and encouraged the victim to do so while in the restaurant,” investigators allege. “The victim was also encouraged by Dzioba to subsequently leave several similar voicemail messages.”

During a second restaurant rendezvous, Dzioba “inquired about the extent of the victim’s wealth,” and told the man that “at some time in the future she will ask for money to help her, or for a charity,” Silski reported. The FBI alleges that Dzioba also texted the victim “what could fairly be described as suggestive photographs” of herself.

The victim told federal agents that Dzioba then began pressing him for $1400 so that she could pay for a computer and a real estate class. When the victim did not immediately respond, Dzioba allegedly texted, “O forget it. Seriously I’m done. Maybe I should call her.” The man interpreted the message as a threat to contact his wife.

Concerned that Dzioba would falsely claim that “something beyond the meetings and phone communications had occurred,” the man decided to pay her $1400 (which he delivered to Dzioba at her office).

Upon receiving the cash, Dzioba allegedly told the victim that she needed $250,000 more to keep from “telling the victim’s wife and family about their encounters and conversations.” In text messages sent from Dzioba’s phone, the man was warned that “If u think u can shut me up with 1400$ u r mistaken” and “All u got to do is pay and no one will ever know. Ever.”

Armed with the victim’s voicemail messages--and apparently a tape recording of their first restaurant meeting--Dzioba subsequently threatened the man’s lawyer that, “I will also contact media.”

The victim eventually contacted the FBI. Guided by agents, the man negotiated a $100,000 payoff to be delivered in $5000 installments.

Last Tuesday, the man met with Dzioba in the parking lot outside her office. He handed her an envelope with $4800 in $100 bills, money he had been provided by FBI agents. “The next five needs to be by the end of the week though,” said Dzioba.

FBI agents arrested Dzioba Monday on a complaint charging her with a felony carrying a maximum of five years in prison.

According to a biography on her employer’s web site, Dzioba is a mother of three who “loves to do volunteer work and help others.” Additionally, she “has done modeling in her past and is currently doing the news on the radio on weekends.” Dzioba’s Facebook page--which is stocked with glamour shots of the Bosnian émigré--notes that she was in the Class of 2004 at Michigan’s Wayne State University, where she studied “Journalism Broadcast.” (8 pages)