When sextortion suspect refused to unlock her iPhone, the FBI stepped in

Enlarge / Hencha Voigt, seen here in a May 28 photo, is accused of sextorting Julieanna Goddard. (credit: Hencha Voigt)

The FBI has inserted itself into an ongoing state case in Miami involving two suspects accused of sextorting Julieanna Goddard, a South Beach socialite who goes by YesJulz online. The accused sextortionists are reality-TV star Hencha Voigt and her then-boyfriend, Wesley Victor.

According to a recent court filing, which was provided to Ars by the Miami Herald, the FBI offered to cover Florida's costs to pay Cellebrite, a well-known Israeli digital forensics firm, to extract data off of one of the suspects' iPhone 6. The Cellebrite effort was successful.

The case provides a clear look into the efforts that the federal government is willing to go to-even in local, non-terrorism cases-to aid local law enforcement's attempts to defeat strong encryption.

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