Police officer indicted after allegations of using confidential databases to harass, extort women

A police officer, Samer Sheikh, 28, of Abu Snan, was indicted in Haifa District Court on Sunday for allegedly using confidential police databases to harass and extort women. Serving in the Yarkon district's traffic division, Sheikh is accused of accessing personal details of numerous women from 2022 until his arrest, even when off-duty, and then using this information to contact them and their relatives via fake WhatsApp accounts. The 15-count indictment includes charges of extortion by threats, sexual harassment, threats, impersonation, invasion of privacy, fraud, causing an indecent act, and breach of trust.

• Sheikh allegedly secretly recorded intimate video calls with one woman and threatened to distribute them unless she participated in more sexually explicit calls.
• He is also accused of threatening to publish intimate photographs and videos of another woman unless she performed sexual acts during video calls.
• The indictment details instances where Sheikh sent unwanted sexual propositions, falsely told relatives women appeared in pornographic videos, and continued harassment even after being rejected or blocked.
• The final count focuses on his alleged abuse of position by unlawfully accessing police systems to facilitate these offenses, constituting fraud and breach of trust by a public servant.