Extortion charge, Florida

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Question

Country: United States of America
State: Florida

I have charged in Florida with Fl statute 836.05 Extortion and 812.081 Trade secrets.This is a result of informing a department store that one of their employees gave me a copy of a client list (whichwas of no value to me) as protection that he would pay me the money he owed me because if his employer would terminate him if they knew he took the list hich he was not)I informed the GM of the Florida Store of the list.That day I spoke to their Lost Prevention regional director in Dallas, TX. All subsequent conversations was done between the company was betwwen NY and TX. I wrote a letter to the CEO stating he had an obligation to inform the people on the list of breach of personal data (no SSN) and copied the media. When I returned to Florida I was arrested on the above statutes. My first question is, does Florida have jurisdiction in this matter? If so is it because they do business in Florida? Second,in order to prove extortion do they not have to prove maliciousness and intent?

Answer

What was the purpose of your contacting the store--Florida does have jurisdiction if a store was there...