A man reeling from a bad breakup who claimed he had cancer is facing an arraignment on Jan. 13 for allegedly trying to extort money from his ex-girlfriend over nude photos.
On Nov. 19, 2024, an officer with the Tavares Police Department responded to an undisclosed Lake County residence regarding harassing communications, according to an affidavit of probable cause out of Lake County. Upon arrival, the female victim advised that her ex-boyfriend, 30-year-old Johnathan Kody Ellis of Zellwood, had been harassing her over the previous 24 hours.
Ellis originally began messaging the victim’s father the day before. In these messages, he asked the victim’s father to tell the victim that he was sorry for incidents that happened during their previous relationship. He continued to send messages inviting the victim’s father out to events, saying he had cancer and advising that the victim allegedly stole $1,700 from him, the affidavit said.
The affidavit noted neither the victim nor her father had spoken to Ellis prior to these messages since Feb. 2024.
After the victim’s father made her aware of the messages from Ellis, she messaged him on Facebook asking about his statements regarding cancer. They proceeded to have a conversation about their prior relationship. However, he eventually accused her of stealing items and funds from him over the course of their relationship, the affidavit said.
The victim stated these items and funds were gifts given by Ellis while they dated. Eventually, he told her to pay him $1,700 by Thursday, or he would post her nude photographs to all of his social media accounts. She told him to stop messaging her, and she ceased contact with him on Monday evening. He still messaged her 18 times within 24 hours on Facebook Messenger alone, the affidavit said.
Ellis also posted a photograph of the victim in her bra and underwear to his Facebook story on Nov. 19. He included text on the photograph stating it was the victim in the photograph and advertising that he would disperse her nude photographs in exchange for $1,700, the affidavit said.
The victim further advised that Ellis had been contacting the father of her children and other friends about the incident. He sent a video to the father of her kids of her and Ellis having intercourse. However, the video did not show her face, tattoos or personal identifying information. Ellis also commented the photo of the victim in her underwear to one of her friend’s Facebook posts, the affidavit said.
Due to the continued contact from Ellis and the publication of the victim’s photo on his Facebook story, the victim felt extreme distress. This was exemplified not only by her statements but by her demeanor, as well. She appeared to be timid, nervous, have shaking hands and was having difficulty breathing, or hyperventilating, the affidavit said.
The victim ultimately provided 100 screenshots of messages and posts made by Ellis. Within these screenshots, 1 through 37 were messages and posts from Facebook. Screenshot 25 showed the victim trying to stop communication with Ellis, and screenshot 26 showed her saying she would pay him back so she would not have to owe him anything. He responded telling her to write it to his parents because he would not “be here much longer anyways,” the affidavit said.
The messages continued, with Ellis saying he was sorry the victim hated him so much and that he loved her. She responded stating she only wanted a book back, and he could mail it to her. He went on to say he wanted a necklace and other stuff back, too, and she said she would pay for his stuff while he could keep hers, the affidavit said.
Ellis sent several messages that escalated from him saying he loved the victim and would never message her again to saying he would post every picture and video he had of her if she did not pay him back. The victim wrote back once asking what was wrong with him, and he proceeded to send screenshots of her in her underwear while threatening to send them to family and friends, the affidavit said.
Ellis continuously spoke negatively of the father of the victim’s kids and said the victim stole from people. He stated he would “show up” with the police to get his stuff. He also threatened to post her photos to her business pages and to ruin her “entire career,” the affidavit said.
The last photograph Ellis sent of the victim had a text box stating, “This is my old ex if you would like vids or nudes hit me up for the low – she decided to steal about 1,700 from me so let’s make her nudes famous thanks guys!!”
Screenshot 37 showed comments on a Facebook post belonging to one of the victim’s friends. The last comment on the post was from Ellis of the photograph with the text box, the affidavit.
Since the incident was originally reported, Ellis tried to delete all visible posts from his Facebook page and changed his profile name from “Kody Ellis” to “John Ell.” The officer completed a preservation letter on his Facebook account, the affidavit said.
The officer received a search warrant for Facebook on Dec. 11, 2024, and he reviewed records provided by the site. Within these records were 188 photos and videos. Facebook also sent three documents containing Ellis’ activity between Nov. 17 and 23, 2024, the affidavit said.
Of these records, 13 photographs and videos were pertinent to the facts of the case. The first 11 were photos of the victim that Ellis commented underneath various posts or posted as a story. The last two were videos of Ellis performing oral sex to an unidentifiable woman, which he uploaded to Facebook and commented underneath a post. The record indicated the video had a play count of 13 and a privacy setting of Only Me at the time of the search warrant, the affidavit said.
Other records showed Ellis reacted to seven comments from the victim on Facebook before being blocked on Nov. 20, 2024. He searched her name 56 times from Nov. 19 to 22, 2024, the affidavit said.
On Dec. 11, 2024, the officer conducted a telephone interview with Ellis. At the beginning of the interview, he advised that he believed the officer was calling regarding an incident that occurred over Facebook with his ex-girlfriend, the victim. He stated she owed him over $1,000 from when they were dating, which was the original cause of the incident, the affidavit said.
Ellis denied posting any photographs of the victim in her underwear or any other posts that were sexual in nature. He simply posted photographs of his current girlfriend to upset the victim. He also stated that all of the posts had since been deleted, the affidavit said.
When the officer asked Ellis if his statement would be consistent with what would be found with a search warrant, he indicated it would. Ellis also agreed to come to the police department in person to complete a sworn written statement attesting to the validity of his version of events. The affidavit noted that, to the date it was written, he had not yet come to the police department.
The affidavit also noted that the victim filed for an injunction of protection against Ellis on Nov. 20, 2024. She had a hearing for the injunction on Dec. 17, 2024.
A criminal history check revealed Ellis had multiple misdemeanor and felony charges, but no convictions. He had a recent arrest on Dec. 5, 2024, by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for a violation of injunction for protection domestic violence, the affidavit said.
Ellis was ultimately arrested on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, at the Orange County Jail on a warrant charging him with stalking (domestic) and extortion (domestic). The South Carolina native was taken to Lake County Jail and released after posting $10,000 bond.