Just what is the deal with the U.S. Department of State?

Today’s lurid scandal from America’s allegedly elite and upstanding diplomatic corps involves an employee stationed in London was arrested earlier this week for an online stalking and extortion scheme in which he targeted American college co-eds.

The employee is Michael C. Ford, ABC News reports.

Ford may have targeted as many as 250 women in a sick racket designed to obtain sexually explicit photos and videos, according to a spreadsheet he kept. Diplomatic security investigators say they found the spreadsheet containing some 250 email addresses on his State Department work computer.

According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Atlanta, Ford “apparently hacked into and stole compromising photographs from online accounts belonging to an 18-year-old Kentucky woman.”

He did the same thing with other women, the complaint says, “targeting college-aged women throughout the U.S.”

His modus operandi was heavy-handed threats and extortion. Specifically, he sent emails demanding imagery of “sexy girls” taking their clothes off in places only a woman can usually enter — swimming pool and fitness center dressing rooms, department store changing rooms and the like, according to ABC News.

“Finally, I found you! What do you think? Nice ass!” an email to one victim read, according to court documents.  The email had a photo attached as evidence.

When the woman asked how he obtained the photo, he called himself “a wizard” and then said he would text or email explicit images to people his female target knew, investigators contend. He listed phone numbers and emails to show he had the ability.

When the target of the State Department worker’s extortion threatened to contact police, he answered with more threats.

“I’ve hacked nothing,” Ford claimed, according to court papers. “You threaten me again and I send it out.”

“I want you to video girls in the changing room,” Ford also wrote. “If you don’t, I send your details and picture to everyone.”

On Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf described Ford as “a locally hired administrative support employee.” She noted that he has been fired and was not a Foreign Service officer.

The federal court documents note that a man named Michael Ford with Michael Ford’s Social Security number has a prior arrest for a “‘peeping-Tom’-like” offense. No other details were available.

Ford had been employed by the State Department since 2009, investigators say.

Federal officials arrested him on Sunday at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Ford’s arrest comes as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s scandal-ridden presidential campaign deals with fallout from her inability to follow federal law concerning emails and sensitive documents.

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