The Riverside Police Department arrested an attorney and his girlfriend Thursday for allegedly organizing an elaborate plot to extort local businesses.

Between April and June 2016, Rogelio Morales, 39 and Mireya Arias, 32, entered eleven hair salon and dry cleaning businesses in Riverside County and obtained minimal services from each, police said. Within days, the businesses -- which are all owned by Asian or Hispanic immigrants -- received paperwork form Morales’ law firm suing them for violating gender discrimination or other business laws. The amount listed in the suits ranged from $20,000- $123,000.

"The lengthy investigation determined Mr. Morales and Ms. Arias would enter these businesses with the clear intent of extortion," Riverside Police Department said in a statement.

Morales would later offer the businesses a chance to settle the matter out of court for about $10,000. As police began to investigate, many of the business owners hired attorneys.

After another attorney and community activist organized a protest outside Morales’ office, police said the activist received threatening comments and posts to her professional social media account from social media accounts linked to Morales and his law firm. The activist obtained a restraining order. Morales did not comply.

"Morales continued making social media posts containing threats of harm and litigation toward the activist," police said in a statement. "He also continued to contact the attorneys representing victim businesses with threats of litigation if the victims do not pay him $10,000."

Police said the threats continued through December 2016.

If you have information about this investigation, or if you have been similarly victimized by Morales and the Law Offices of Rogelio V. Morales, contact Riverside Police Department Detective David Smith at 951-353-7103 or davidsmith@riversideca.gov.