POTSDAM -- From blogs specializing in titillating stories to the India Times, Potsdam received some unflattering news coverage as the infamy of two local women spread to faraway continents last week.

The worldwide media coverage was of two Potsdam women charged with threatening to falsely accuse a man of rape if he didn't give them his car.

Visits to NorthCountryNow.com, which posted the story, increased 60 percent, to 40,000 last Thursday, after several national websites, including Reddit.com, linked to the story. NorthCountryNow.com generally averages 24,000 to 25,000 visits each weekday.

The India Times, owned by India's largest media and entertainment conglomerate, linked to a story posted by Your News Now.

The story also created fodder for a number of blogs and websites.

“It is vital that men and boys in this area of the state watch out for these criminals and don't fall prey to them,” said a post on MensActivism.org. One Blogspot writer who linked to the story talked about “assault with a girly weapon," and wondered why the women didn't look for someone who drove something better than a ’97 Subaru.

Village police say Christine L. Laraby, 45, and Miranda L. Laraby, 17, told a man they would report to police that he had physically abused and raped Miranda Laraby if he did not sign over his vehicle to the them and give them a note saying that they had paid him $500 cash for it.

Police say the defendants subsequently took possession of the man's 1997 Subaru Legacy and later told the victim that if he did not buy new tires for the vehicle and give them $500, they would carry through on their earlier threat.

Both women were charged with second-degree coercion on May 27. They were arraigned in Potsdam Village Court and released on their own recognizance with orders of protection prohibiting them from having any further contact with the victim.

Christine Laraby is due to officially enter a plea in village court July 13 at 9:30 a.m.