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Woman accused in extortion case

A Fort Dodge woman is accused of threatening another woman in an attempt to collect a debt.

Chelsea K. Collins, 30, is also alleged to have held a man against his will while attempting to extort the woman, according to criminal complaints filed with the Webster County attorney’s office.

Collins is charged with one count of extortion, a class D felony, and one count of false imprisonment, a serious misdemeanor.

Between June 1 and July 27, complaints allege that Collins threatened a Fort Dodge woman in order to collect a debt that Collins believed the woman owed her.

At one point during that time frame, Collins and her boyfriend allegedly forced a relative of the victim into a car and transported him across town to the woman’s home.

Once there, Collins and her boyfriend — who is not named in the criminal complaint — demanded the woman turn over property to use as collateral to pay for the debt. Collins allegedly used “fear and intimidation” against the woman, though what exactly Collins said or did was not listed in the complaint.

The exact date of the incident was also not listed in the complaint.

Collins made her initial appearance in Webster County Magistrate Court Tuesday morning. Magistrate Steve Kersten read the complaint to Collins before ordering her held in the Webster County Jail on a combined $6,000 cash-only bond.

Additionally, Kersten issued no-contact orders between Collins, the woman and the woman’s relative that Collins allegedly held against his will.

Her preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 7.

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