Word: extortion
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...Dartmouth College in 1972 and served as its head until 1985. Despite his achievements, Dorris' life was plagued by hardship. In 1991, his adopted son, Reynold Abel, died after being hit by a car. In 1995 another adopted son, Jeffrey, was was put on trial for trying to extort $15,000 from him. The impending divorce from his wife, the novelist Louise Erdrich, added to his travails. Dorris, who was working on a follow-up to "The Broken Cord" entitled "Matter of Conscience," was on leave as an English professor at Dartmouth at the time of his death...
Womack also tried to extort money from Northeastern and threatened to bomb libraries on both campuses if Jewish employees were not fired...
...defense argued that Womack had no intention of following through with his threats to extort money or commit violent acts...
...reasonable person would have a difficult time believing that he had intended to [follow through with his threat to] extort money, hurt people or make people act against their will," Homans said in court...
Homans cited the fact that Womack never picked up his ransom money--although FBI agents planted it in obscure locations in Widener, as requested--as further evidence that Womack was merely trying to cause a disturbance and not intending to extort funds or cause violence...