Woman who extorted online dates gets 1 month in jail She admitted shaking men down for more than $300K

A 26-year-old Olympia woman, left, was sentenced to one month of work release and two months of electronic home monitoring after pleading guilty to extorting online dates for more than $300,000. A 26-year-old Olympia woman, left, was sentenced to one month of work release and two months of electronic home monitoring after pleading guilty to extorting online dates for more than $300,000. Photo: Lynsi Burton/seattlepi.com Photo: Lynsi Burton/seattlepi.com Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Woman who extorted online dates gets 1 month in jail 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A 26-year-old Olympia woman was sentenced to one month of work release and two months of electronic home monitoring after pleading guilty to extorting online dates for more than $300,000.

Seul Ki Yum expressed her remorse Friday afternoon during her sentencing hearing in King County Superior Court in downtown Seattle.

"I am very ashamed and very embarrassed of my behavior," she told Judge Lori K. Smith. "I would give anything back to have a normal life."

Yum spent more than three years finding men on online dating sites and extorting them for rent money, purported abortion money or cash for a laptop or purse, according to charging documents. Seven men were listed in the incident report.

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Several of the victims were married, had families and paid Yum in exchange for her silence. On one occasion, however, she posted naked pictures of a victim to the man's next girlfriend and would-be wife.

Upon her October arrest, however, which took place while one of her victims wore a wire to capture an arranged exchange of $5,000, Yum was forthcoming about her actions.

She gave police helpful information in their investigation and always intended to plead guilty to her crimes, Deputy Prosecutor Darren Thompson said Friday.

Because it was her first criminal offense and she showed remorse for her behavior, the prosecutor and defense agreed to an exceptionally low sentence of 30 days in jail or work release, followed by 60 days of electronic home detention.

"Her empathy for the victims, her true level of remorse ... are higher than any I've come across," defense attorney Michelle Shaw said.

After she was charged, Yum suffered online harassment, with people hacking her LinkedIn professional page and bullying her on social media.

"It made her realize what it feels like to be one of the victims in this case," Shaw said. "It's made her feel so much worse about her behavior."

Yum met men through online dating sites such as OKCupid, Tinder and Seeking Arrangements and dated them for a short time before issuing threats, according to court records.

On multiple occasions, she would contact the men after they stopped seeing her to say she was pregnant and demand abortion money. She also threatened to disclose their relationship to wives, families and co-workers.

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Even after receiving payments, she would come back to demand more, saying she needed mental health care or her roommate needed money in exchange for silence.

In one instance, she lied to a man about being pregnant and purported to waffle back and forth about obtaining an abortion, saying she would sue him for child support if she didn't receive abortion money. That man's family ultimately filed for an anti-harassment order against her.

Others contacted police about her extortion.

Another man, who was a high-end wine retailer in California under investigation by the FBI for embezzlement, paid Yum nearly $240,000 over about two years. She had threatened to spill their affair to his wife and family if she did not receive $10,000 per month. At one point, the FBI recorded a phone call between the two in which she repeatedly blackmailed the man and told him he was behind on his payments to her.

Yum pleaded guilty to five counts of extortion last month.

She intends to follow a mental health treatment plan and hopes to acquire work to help her pay restitution to two of her victims.