Two local government officials from New Mexico remain in jail after being charged with extortion and tampering with evidence stemming from an incident involving a topless lap dance at a political opponent’s office.

The Sunland City Manager and City Councilor are both charged with sending a dancer to the campaign office, sicking her upon him and video taping the encounter to force him to drop out of the race. The video, which was found on the city manager’s computer, had been opened using editing software and still photos had been extracted from the video file.

The candidate for mayor who had been subjected to the lap dance, said he knew he was being set up and he didn’t know the encounter was being recorded.

From the Associated Press:

An affidavit used to support the arrests of a mayoral candidate and the city manager of a troubled New Mexico border town says a video of another mayoral candidate getting a lap dance was downloaded onto the city manager’s office computer the day before an unidentified man tried to use it in a blackmail scheme.

Sunland Park City Councilor Daniel Salinas and City Manager Jaime Aguilera were arrested Saturday evening on charges of extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion, tampering with evidence and conspiracy to tamper with evidence.

The two remained jailed Sunday afternoon at the Dona Ana County Correctional Center, each on $50,000 cash-only bond.

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