German surrenders in Cindy Crawford extortion case

Model Cindy Crawford poses at the ''Miley’s Sweet 16 Share the Celebration'' party at Disneyland in Anaheim, California October 5, 2008.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German man wanted for trying to extort $100,000 from former supermodel Cindy Crawford over a photo of her daughter has surrendered to authorities, Bild newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Edis Kayalar, 26, gave himself up to police in the southwestern town of Nuertingen on Monday evening. Police then searched his apartment in the nearby town of Wendlingen.

Kayalar had just returned from a trip to Turkey, Bild said.

He was charged in federal court in Los Angeles last week with trying to extort money from Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber over a photo of their daughter gagged and bound to a chair.

The photo apparently was snapped by the then 7-year-old girl's nanny as a private joke when she was playing "cops and robbers" with the girl.

It fell into the hands of Kayalar, who was the nanny's friend, according to court documents.

Kayalar contacted Crawford, 43, last summer and sought to use the photo to get money from the couple, saying tabloids would pay a lot, the court papers said.

Crawford and Gerber contacted authorities, prompting Los Angeles police to launch a criminal probe.

Kayalar was arrested in September and deported to Germany for being in the United States illegally. But earlier this month he again phoned Crawford and Gerber and demanded $100,000, which led to him being charged with extortion.

Kayalar faces up to two years in prison if returned to the United States and convicted.

(Writing by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Michael Roddy)