The Tompkins County man who has been accused of trying to extort money from former Food Network star Paula Deen has accepted a plea deal. 62-year-old George Paculis, of Newfield, demanded $250,000 from Deen in order to not go public with statements Deen had allegedly made, which he had described as “true and damning”. What the statements were, along with Paculis’ relationship with Deen, remains unclear. He has reportedly signed a plea deal with federal prosecutors, but no details of the agreement have been made public. Deen has been fighting to save her public image after it was recently revealed in a court deposition that she had uttered racial slurs in the past.
