VERO BEACH – A 38-year-old Vero Beach woman found herself in handcuffs this week charged with extortion and sexual cyberharassment after a chilling investigation by the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office.
Shantee Frazier is accused of distributing sexually explicit images and videos of a victim, along with making threats, in a malicious scheme tied to her husband’s ongoing legal troubles.
The case unraveled when the victim revealed that Frazier had been sending nude photos and videos of the victim to others. The victim, unaware the images even existed, was horrified.
She told deputies she never consented to their distribution and had a reasonable expectation of privacy, assuming such material would remain private, causing her substantial emotional distress.
Deputies confirmed the allegations with hard evidence. The victim showed investigators the explicit content sent from two phone numbers traced back to Frazier, who had used them to contact law enforcement for unrelated calls for service as recently as March 7 and February 20, 2025.
In the presence of deputies, the victim had a witness screenshot the material Frazier sent her, further tying the content to Frazier’s numbers.
But the case took a darker turn. Text messages from the same phone numbers revealed threats aimed at coercing the victim into providing false statements to law enforcement or the State Attorney in a case involving Frazier’s husband, Lennie Wells.
One message warned the victim she’d “end up butt naked in the middle of a tarp begging for their kids’ life” if she didn’t comply. Frazier also demanded money, telling the victim, “Lennie said he need some money, are you gonna put any in his account?”
On one occasion, she insisted the victim deposit $250 into Wells’ account, adding a cryptic threat: if the money wasn’t paid, “there is no reason for her to go to the doctor.”
When the victim refused to pay or provide a false statement, Frazier followed through on her threats, distributing the explicit images and videos. Deputies observed the material on the victim’s phone, sent from Frazier’s numbers, and confirmed a witness had received the same content.
On March 22, 2025, a deputy called both numbers, leaving messages about a supposed scam involving the “Chime” app that Frazier had previously reported to the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office.
She took the bait, meeting the deputy the next day with three cell phones in tow. Frazier confirmed the numbers for each device.
Standing by the deputy’s patrol car, Frazier admitted she’d owned the phones since January and February, respectively, and insisted they’d always been in her possession, though she allowed friends to make calls in her presence.
The deputy, capturing the exchange on a body camera, held up screenshots of the incriminating messages sent from those numbers, solidifying the connection.
Armed with this evidence, the deputy read Frazier her Miranda rights and confronted her with 74 pages of communications between her and Wells, downloaded from Smart Communications, the system used by inmates at the Indian River County Jail.
The messages, which are monitored, showed Wells instructing Frazier to act, and her following through—sending threats and explicit images to pressure the victim into compliance. After a second round of questioning, Frazier invoked her rights and remained silent.
She was charged with sexual cyber harassment and extortion. Deputies handcuffed her in front, noting her pregnancy, and placed her in a patrol car.
Since Frazier’s children were with her, her father was called to retrieve them and her car. In a surprising twist, he told deputies he’d been contacted the previous week by a woman who warned him about Frazier’s actions—matching the victim’s account.
Frazier, who told deputies she worked as a nurse, was transported to the Indian River County Jail and held on a bond of $20,000.
