[Lazamataz]

He paid to put up the fence so he could charge people to take down the fence. There is no other reason for the fence except to extort money.

It does not matter why he did what he did. He is free, in America, to do exactly this unless zoning ordinances prevent it.

[AppyPappy]

It does matter. You cannot extort money from people. If he had drained the lake, I would say that is his business. If he had said "I cannot afford the liability, pay for the insurance or I'll drain the lake", I can understand that. But this method was clearly extortion.