Almost exactly a year after it began, the court case against a woman accused of blackmailing a Rochester doctor for tens of thousands of dollars, a Mercedes and access to his bank accounts has been dismissed.
Dontania Danielle Petrie, 27, already is in prison, though. An Olmsted County District Court jury convicted her in March of one count each of promoting prostitution of an individual and receiving profits from prostitution of an individual, both felonies.
She was sentenced in April to 62 months in prison for the promotion charge, with no adjudication for the profits charge. She was given credit for 27 days already served.
While awaiting sentencing, however, she was charged with one count of felony theft-aid/abet after stealing a $2,000 pair of sunglasses on April 7.
That day, Rochester police were sent to Eye-Q Intelligent Eyewear, a designer eyeglass store in the subway level of the Kahler Grand Hotel for a report of a theft.
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An employee said two women had come into the store. She recognized them from a visit a month earlier when they'd wanted to make a purchase by check. The store doesn't accept checks, so the women left.
But on April 7, they came back and asked to see some sunglasses from the locked Cartier case. The women looked at three pairs and asked if they could pay by check. When the employee told them no, one of the women — later identified as Brooklyn Mary Holmes, 19 — offered to pay in cash.
The employee bent down to get a case for the glasses, which is when the other woman — identified as Petrie — put one of the pairs of sunglasses into one of the bags they were carrying. When the employee asked where the third pair was, the women said they'd only looked at two.
The stolen sunglasses are Cartier with white ear attachments, blue lenses and nose and ear connectors in solid gold; they're valued at $2,000.
Petrie and Holmes were identified by other patrol officers and investigators who looked at still photos of the incident, the complaint says. The store employee viewed known photos of the women and said they were "definitely" the suspects.
Petrie appeared in court Monday on both the blackmail case and the theft case. Judge Joseph Chase dismissed the coercion case and sentenced her to 15 months on the theft case.
Petrie first was arrested July 25, 2016, after a sex trafficking investigation in Rochester. Petrie and an undercover officer exchanged text messages after he responded to an advertisement in the escort section of a website that offered adult services. Members of law enforcement often monitor the site and place false ads to target people involved in prostitution or respond to ads placed by others.
The messages included information about sexual acts and prices, the complaint says, and arranged a meeting between the officer and a woman. Petrie drove an 18-year-old female to the meeting, took the money from the officer and put it in her bra. She told the officer she was the "madam" and collects the money and also checks the hotel room, bathroom and closets when she drops a girl off.
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She then agreed to allow another man to join the original "date"; the other "customer" was actually the arrest team.
Petrie was released from custody the first week in August 2016 after posting $40,000 unconditional bond; authorities suspect it came from the money she received in the alleged blackmailing case.
That investigation began Aug. 18, 2016, when a man reported to Rochester police that about two weeks earlier, he had contacted Petrie via that same adult services website. He went to Petrie's home in northwest Rochester and paid her $150 cash for a sexual act, the complaint says.
The next morning, the doctor said, Petrie contacted him, sent him a covert video she'd made of the previous day's encounter and threatened to "ruin his reputation," court documents say. Petrie said she knew where he worked and allegedly told the man she'd give him the video in exchange for $5,000.
The man reportedly paid Petrie $48,000 over several days, in addition to purchasing the car, the complaint says.
