A New Orleans police detective went to a judge on Wednesday and applied for a warrant to arrest former WWL Radio sports talk-show host Seth Dunlap on a count of extortion, multiple criminal justice sources say.

According to one of the sources with knowledge of the application, the detective presented evidence to back up his central allegation: that the openly gay radio personality used his phone to launch a homophobic insult at himself via the radio station’s Twitter account before demanding nearly $2 million to settle complaints about a hostile workplace.

But Magistrate Commissioner Robert Blackburn rejected the warrant. The sources said Blackburn didn’t find the evidence backed up a charge of extortion, which is defined as making threats to a person “with the intention (to) obtain anything of value.”

The extent of the threat that Dunlap is accused of making — he allegedly warned he would go “scorched earth” on the station if it didn’t accede to his settlement demands — didn’t justify the felony charge, Blackburn said.

The Police Department can still pursue an arrest warrant alleging that Dunlap committed a different offense based on the same evidence, or it could renew its request for an extortion charge by bolstering its application with more evidence.

It wasn’t immediately clear where the investigation into Dunlap — who has maintained his innocence and has pledged to sue the station over its treatment of him — goes next.

NOPD officials on Friday would say only that the case remained “active and ongoing.”

The bizarre case has drawn national media attention since it began nearly two months ago. It gained new notice last week when the station fired Dunlap, 35, following an extended, paid leave of absence.

WWL Radio fires talk-show host Seth Dunlap amid NOPD probe involving homophobic tweet WWL Radio has fired former talk-show host Seth Dunlap, despite his denying claims by the station that he commandeered its Twitter account to …

Dunlap used his Twitter account Sept. 10 to promote his analysis of a Saints win the previous day. Shortly thereafter, WWL Radio’s official Twitter account retweeted Dunlap while referring to him as “a fag.”

Though the tweet was quickly deleted, screenshots of it circulated just as rapidly. Many condemned the station and expressed support for Dunlap, who days earlier had published a lengthy post on his personal Facebook page about his challenges as a gay man working in sports media.

Within days, Dunlap announced that he was going on leave to ponder his next steps, including the possibility of filing a suit alleging a hostile workplace.

In the meantime, WWL Radio and its corporate parent, Pennsylvania-based Entercom, hired a digital forensic specialist to identify whoever had sent the insult to Dunlap from the station’s Twitter account, which several people could access.

WWL later announced that the forensic probe showed the tweet came from an IP address — a unique number given to cellphones and other pieces of hardware — associated with Dunlap’s phone. The station also said it had surveillance video depicting Dunlap opening the door of his office shortly after the offensive tweet went out and showing his phone to a co-worker while appearing to talk about the tweet.

On Sept. 24, WWL Radio’s management took the information to the NOPD and filed an extortion complaint, alleging a cash-strapped Dunlap had sent the tweet shortly before demanding $1.8 million from the station to drop plans for a lawsuit against the station.

WWL Radio ended Dunlap’s leave on Oct. 31 and terminated his employment that same day.

+2 WWL Radio claims Seth Dunlap sent homophobic tweet, then demanded $1.8M, NOPD report says WWL Radio officials believe the homophobic slur tweeted from the station’s official account to talk show host Seth Dunlap earlier this month w…

The criminal justice sources said NOPD investigators obtained additional electronic search warrants before unsuccessfully applying Wednesday for the arrest warrant.

One source said the context of Dunlap’s “scorched earth” remark — during talks to potentially settle his workplace issues — factored into Blackburn’s decision not to grant the warrant.

The source said Blackburn said that the setting didn’t support a criminal charge of extortion, which usually involves someone demanding payment to remain silent about pictures or messages that compromise the people being threatened.

The newspaper was unable to review the warrant application.

Extortion in Louisiana can be punished by up to 15 years in prison.

WWL-TV legal analyst Donald Foret said a couple of state-level computer offenses could fit the case.

Foret, a former prosecutor, said a relatively easy "jump" from extortion would be computer fraud, defined in part as "the accessing of any computer, computer system, computer network, or any part thereof with the intent to … obtain money, property or services by means of false or fraudulent conduct, practices or representations." Computer fraud is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Online impersonation, a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months, could also fit the alleged facts of the case, Foret said. The law prohibits posting messages online under another's identity to threaten, defraud or generally harm others.

WWL Radio and WWL-TV have different owners and managements.

Dunlap and his attorney, Megan Kiefer, deny the claims of WWL Radio and Entercom. They say Dunlap passed a lie-detector test which asked if he was responsible for the offensive tweet.

"Mr. Dunlap has maintained from the beginning that he did not send the tweet, and he voluntarily took and passed a polygraph test, the results of which have been released to the public," Kiefer said.

Kiefer said Dunlap's dismissal compounded the damages he had already suffered. She alleges that WWL and Entercom only involved the police to retaliate against Dunlap for not letting them settle his workplace complaints cheaply.

Dunlap began hosting his own weeknight show on WWL Radio, “The Last Lap with Seth Dunlap," in 2017. Before that, he co-hosted a sports show after starting at the station as a sales representative.