Woman says she was paid to appear in white powder video

The woman who appeared in a video confessing to Saskatoon’s white powder scares is coming forward to clear her name.

Samantha Field spoke with Gormley in an interview Wednesday from her home in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Field said she was hired through the video services site Fiverr.com by a user named “alexemme” to read an excerpt of a book called “The Floppy Hat.”

“It was a lot of drama going on in one little section of the book,” Field said. “There were a lot of names and I didn’t really know what was going on.”

She noted the end of her paid video was cut off, where she encourages viewers to buy the book to “find out what happens next.”

Field said she was paid $35 for making the video.

In the video, Field describes making packages and handing them over to a man outside Confederation Mall.

She goes on to say, “People will think the baking soda is anthrax,” before mentioning another person’s name who “really doesn’t like Alexa.”

It appears to be a reference to Alexa Emerson, also known as Amanda Totcheck, who faces 83 charges in relation to more than a dozen white powder and bomb threats in Saskatoon, Warman and Hague between November and April.

Police said Tuesday they were still working to confirm Field was the same woman in the video.

‘This is a joke’

Police had been looking to speak with Field since April 9, when the video was sent to local media.
They emphasized the woman in the video was considered a witness, not a suspect.

Saskatoon Crime Stoppers released a Facebook post Friday, asking the public to find her profile on Fiverr.com and identify her. They labelled it the “greatest Where’s Waldo” internet search.

Field said her brother alerted her to the Crime Stoppers post on Sunday, but she didn’t take it seriously at first.

“My first reaction was that my brother was playing a prank,” she said. “This is a joke. This is some sort of site where you can make something up. I didn’t believe him.”

But after seeing stories about the video on local media websites, Field immediately contacted Saskatoon police and media outlets to clear the air.

“Our business is all about making good first impressions, and I thought this was a horrible one for all of Saskatoon,” she said.