German police said Sunday that they had searched a home in connection with an alleged extortion scheme targeting former supermodel Cindy Crawford and her family.

U.S. authorities had said Thursday that a German man had been charged in the U.S. with trying to extort $100,000 from Crawford and her entrepreneur husband, Rande Gerber, over a photo of their daughter, then 7, bound to a chair and gagged. He was accused of threatening to sell or release the photo to the media.

The daughter told her parents, who were unaware of the photo, that her former nanny took the picture as part of a "cops and robbers" game, according to an affidavit.

U.S. authorities say the suspect, 26-year-old Edis Kayalar, was taken into federal custody in the U.S. for an immigration violation three months ago and deported to Germany. He was believed to be in the Stuttgart area.