“Evil Elmo” was charged in a scheme to extort $2 million from the Girl Scouts.

“Evil Elmo” is a homeless man named Dan Sandler, who dressed up as the popular Sesame Street character and did street performances from coast to coast.

A homeless man with a history of playing an evil version of the Sesame Street character Elmo from coast to coast has been charged with trying to extort $2 million from the Girl Scouts.

Manhattan prosecutors charged that Dan Sandler, who also calls himself Adam Sandler, left harassing emails and voice mails for a Girl Scout supervisor last year. He met the woman while doing temp work at the Girl Scouts, which is a nonprofit organization. The supervisor told Sandler to stop contacting her. Sandler threatened to spread rumors about sex abuse in the Girl Scouts and demanded that they pay up with a high-paying stay-at-home job or $2 million.

Prosecutors allege that one of Sandler’s emails said: "I want a telecommute job from home of life at 150K. Or a two million dollar cash settlement. As you know, the newspapers like to cover my evil Elmo scenario.”

Assistant District Attorney Lauren Littman said the emails "became increasingly alarming and bizarre."

Authoties said another email said “How you treat me as a person will go a long way in regards to how I treat the Girl Scouts in the press, on the internet and on u-tube."

A picture of an Elmo costume stuffed in the trunk of a car was attached to an email entitled "Interstate Kidnapping of Elmo."

Defense Attorney Lawrence Gerzog told the judge that Sandler had “mental health issues” and that the emails were not a real threat.

Sandler has been arraigned on attempted grand larceny and other charges, pleaded not guilty, and a judge ordered him held on $200,000 bail.

Last year, Sandler pled guilty to putting on his “Evil Elmo” costume and spouting an anti-Semitic rant in Time Square. He was sentenced to two days of community service. Sandler moved to San Francisco, where he lived in his car. He was arrested in San Francisco on the New York extortion case on May 9.

There was no immediate response to a message left with the Girl Scouts.

by Tony Sokol