The founder and director of the nonprofit organization Micropenises Anonymous was arrested this morning in Los Angeles for blackmailing and extorting money from hundreds of men who had turned to his organization for help.
29-year old Jared Smith has been for years an important advocate for his cause: trying to raise public awareness about the Small Penis Syndrome and the difficult conditions of men who suffer from it.
In 2014, he founded the organization named Micropenises Anonymous of America, a nonprofit organization meant to be a support fellowship using guidelines similar to the well-known Alcoholics Anonymous.
According to the LAPD spokesman, Bill Hernandez, the organization had nothing to do with AA and was clearly a trap meant to obtain blackmail information.
“He created himself the various support groups and chose the sites for the meetings, so he planted microphones and cameras to collect information and evidence.”
Nearly 1800 men joined his meetings across California and Oregon to discuss their condition and their fears, often giving Mr. Smith information which he would then use to blackmail them.
According to Mr. Hernandez, some of his victims paid him more than $250,000 or committed crimes for him to avoid having their secrets revealed.
“Some of these men were well-known actors, athletes and politicians. They couldn’t afford to let this kind of information ruin their reputations, so they paid him to keep the secret.”
Over 16,000 hours of video footage and audio recordings of the meetings were found during the execution of search warrants for both Mr. Smith’s residence and his office.
Jared Smith already faces a total of 289 criminal charges of fraud, extortion, harassment, intimidation, and invasion of privacy, but investigators believe there may be several hundred more victims and other charges could be filed.
If found guilty on all charges, he faces life in prison and a fine of $5,635,000. The IRS is also investigating his organization on allegations of tax fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering.
Mr. Smith was freed three hours after his arrest on an $800,000 bail and is expected to return in court in January for the beginning of his trial.
