CHARLOTTESVILLE — A former Charlottesville-based weatherman has been arrested on a felony charge of sexual extortion out of Albemarle County.
Joshua Wade Fitzpatrick, 42, has been accused of surreptitiously filming a sex tape and threatening the unwitting subject of the recording with its release, according to the Albemarle County Police Department.
"The victim reported that after a consensual sexual encounter, they were extorted and threatened with the release of a video taken unknowingly and without their consent," reads a police statement issued Wednesday.
Fitzpatrick was previously employed by Charlottesville-based 29News, formerly NBC29, a Gray Media-owned station covering much of Central Virginia and parts of the Shenandoah Valley.
While neither of the three Albemarle County courts yet show an arrest record for Fitzpatrick, the police said the investigation began Feb. 28 and resulted in a pair of arrest warrants on April 9. Besides the felony extortion charge, there is a misdemeanor count of unlawfully photographing a naked person.
An extortion conviction, as long as the victim is 18 years old or older, is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, while a misdemeanor nude image conviction is punishable by up to 12 months.
The news director of 29News directed inquiries about Fitzpatrick to the station's general manager, Laura Serbon. Serbon did not immediately return a Daily Progress inquiry made Wednesday afternoon.
Fitzpatrick was known for posting photos on social media from his native Ohio as well as West Virginia, where he formerly served station WSAZ as a meteorologist for the Huntington-Charleston area.
For nearly a decade, Fitzpatrick had been the chief meteorologist for 29News. Online, the station says he departed in early March.
Albemarle County police allege Fitzpatrick relocated from Charlottesville to Ohio after their criminal investigation began. They say he was arrested April 22 in Ohio and awaits extradition to Virginia.
The county police department's statement ended on a sordid note.
"The investigation has led detectives to believe that there may be additional victims," it reads. "ACPD would like to encourage anyone who may have had an encounter with Fitzpatrick to contact Detective M. Schneider with the Albemarle County Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division at 434-296-5807.
