Is Blackmail Illegal in Missouri? Penalties, Defenses, and Reporting

Blackmail is illegal in Missouri, though the state does not use that exact label for most cases. Prosecutors charge it as stealing by coercion under Sections 570.010 and 570.030 of the Missouri Revised Statutes, with penalties running from a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail to a Class B felony carrying as much as fifteen years in prison. The word “blackmail” itself appears in Missouri law only in Section 566.200, which governs threats used in sexual exploitation cases.

What Missouri Treats as Coercion

The statute defining coercion sits at the center of every blackmail case. Under Section 570.010, a threat counts as coercion if it falls into any of these categories:

Threatening to commit a crime against the victim or another person
Threatening future physical harm
Threatening to accuse someone of a crime, whether or not the accusation is true
Threatening to expose someone to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule
Threatening to damage someone’s credit or business reputation
Threatening to use official power as a public servant, or to influence one
Threatening any other harm that would not benefit the person making the threat

That last category is a catch-all. A threat does not need to fit neatly into one of the earlier boxes; if it serves no purpose except pressuring the victim, Missouri treats it as coercion.¹

The threat itself is the crime. Whether the sender follows through does not matter. A message demanding $5,000 in exchange for not posting someone’s private photos is coercion even if the photos never surface. What prosecutors must show is that the threat was communicated and that the accused intended to use it to obtain something of value.

Penalties for Stealing by Coercion

Section 570.030 makes it a crime to obtain property or services from another person “by means of deceit or coercion.”² Because coercion is folded into the general stealing statute, the penalty tracks the same framework used for ordinary theft, keyed mostly to the value of what the blackmailer tried to obtain.

Misdemeanor Level

If the value is low and no aggravating factors apply, the default charge is a Class A misdemeanor carrying up to one year in jail.³ When the property involved is worth less than $150 and the defendant has no prior stealing convictions, the charge drops to a Class D misdemeanor.²

Felony Level

Blackmail becomes a Class D felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison, when the value is $750 or more, when the property is taken from the victim’s person, or when the property falls into certain protected categories such as firearms, motor vehicles, or controlled substances.³

Higher dollar amounts push the charge further:

Class C felony when the value reaches $25,000 or more, carrying three to ten years in prison
Class B felony in specific circumstances such as taking property worth more than $10,000 from a financial institution, carrying five to fifteen years²

Courts also order restitution. Under Section 559.105, a defendant cannot be released from probation until the restitution is paid in full, and the court must extend probation to the statutory maximum if the balance remains unpaid when the original term ends.⁴

When the Blackmail Involves Sexual Images

Threats involving intimate images sit under a separate set of statutes, and the charges can stack. Section 566.200 defines “blackmail” for sexual exploitation purposes as any threat to reveal damaging or embarrassing information to a person’s spouse, family, associates, or the public, including threats to expose secrets that would subject someone to hatred, contempt, or ridicule.⁵

Sharing intimate images without consent to harass, threaten, or coerce another person is the separate offense of nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images under Section 573.110. It is a Class D felony carrying up to seven years in prison. The victim can also sue for at least $10,000 in damages, or actual damages if greater, plus attorney’s fees, and does not need to prove physical harm; humiliation or embarrassment is enough.⁶ A person who demands money in exchange for not releasing private photos can face stealing-by-coercion and nonconsensual-dissemination charges at the same time, and the sentences can run consecutively.

When Federal Charges Also Apply

The federal blackmail statute, 18 U.S.C. § 873, is narrow: it covers demanding money or valuables by threatening to report a violation of federal law, and carries up to one year in federal prison.⁷ When a scheme crosses state lines or uses the internet, prosecutors can also charge under broader federal extortion laws, including the Hobbs Act (18 U.S.C. § 1951). A single episode of blackmail can trigger both state and federal cases, and federal involvement is more likely when interstate communications, multiple victims, or substantial dollar amounts are in play.

Deadline to File Charges

Missouri gives prosecutors three years to file felony charges for stealing by coercion and one year for misdemeanor charges. The clock runs from the date of the offense, not from the date the victim reports it.⁸ Waiting too long to contact law enforcement can close off the chance to pursue a criminal case.

Defenses Available to the Accused

Missouri writes one defense directly into the coercion definition. A threat to accuse someone of wrongdoing, file a lawsuit, or invoke official action is not coercion if the property sought was an honest claim for restitution or compensation for actual harm. In practical terms, a person who genuinely believes they are owed money for damages and warns of a lawsuit is making a legitimate demand, not committing blackmail.¹

The defendant carries the burden of raising this justification. The prosecution does not have to disprove it unless the accused puts evidence of a legitimate claim into the case. That is unusual; in most criminal cases, the prosecution carries the entire burden throughout.

Other common defenses include:

Arguing there was no intent to obtain anything of value, which is a required element of stealing
Arguing that the statement was not actually a threat, pointing to context such as sarcasm or an obvious joke that no reasonable person would take seriously
Challenging the evidence itself, including the authenticity, completeness, or context of text messages, emails, and recorded calls

How to Report Blackmail

Start with local law enforcement, and preserve the evidence before you call. Screenshot threatening messages, save emails, and do not delete any communications. Police will usually assign the case to a detective, and the local prosecutor decides what to charge based on what the investigation turns up.

If the blackmail involves the internet, crosses state lines, or targets a minor, federal resources are also available. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center accepts reports of cyber-enabled extortion and routes them to the right investigators.⁹ Crimes involving children should be reported directly to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Victims identified in federal investigations may qualify for victim-witness assistance, including counseling referrals and information about state crime compensation programs covering medical care, mental health treatment, and lost wages.

1
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code Chapter 570 Section 570-010 – Chapter Definitions
2
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code Chapter 570 Section 570-030 – Stealing, Penalties
3
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code Chapter 558 Section 558-011 – Sentence of Imprisonment, Terms, Conditional Release
4
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 559.105 – Restitution May Be Ordered, When, Limitation on Release From Probation, Amount of Restitution
5
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code Chapter 566 Section 566-200 – Definitions
6
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 573.110 – Nonconsensual Dissemination of Private Sexual Images, Offense of
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 873 – Blackmail
8
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 556.036 – Time Limitations
9
Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Welcome to the Internet Crime Complaint Center