Members of the jury have convicted a 28-year-old man from San Diego for 27 counts of felony for running a revenge porn website that allowed jilted ex-lovers to post private photos of their former wives or girlfriends.
Kevin Christopher Bollaert is guilty of 21 counts of identity theft and six counts of extortion by a San Diego County Superior jury after 26 women came forward claiming their photos were posted on Bollaert's website UGotPosted.com, says the California Attorney General's Office. The jury was unable to reach verdicts on one count of conspiracy and one count of identity theft, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial.
Deputy Attorney General Tawnya Austin says more than 10,000 images were posted on Bollaert's website between Dec. 2, 2012 and Sept. 17, 2013, after which the website was shut down by authorities. Each of the images submitted, prosecutors say, come with the victim's name, age, home address, and a link to her Facebook page.
Court documents unveiled by prosecutors show emails sent by women to Bollaert demanding that their pictures be removed. However, Bollaert refused, instead asking for amounts ranging from $300 to $350 to take down the images. Prosecutors say he earned up to $10,000 from extorting his victims the entire time.
To make matters worse, Bollaert also ran a second website, changemyreputation.com, which also contains the same images. Unknown to the women that the two websites have the same management, they also ended up paying hundreds of dollars to changemyreputation.com to have their photos removed.
"This website is an absolute disgrace," one woman said in an email to Bollaert. "It makes me sick you run this as your little family business."
Bollaert's attorney Emily Rose-Weber does not deny that her client ran the two websites. She also admits that it may have been "sleazy" and "immoral." However, she argues that Bollaert is not responsible for the photos posted on the website, saying he cannot be held liable for what other people want to publish.
"Is it illegal to host a website where bad things happen?" Rose-Weber said in her closing argument. "Is it illegal to hold up a big blank canvas to anyone who wants to paint it?"
The conviction is the first of its kind in California, which is the first state to have a law that illegalizes revenge porn websites, or websites where users anonymously submit embarrassing photos of their former lovers, most of whom are women in nude and explicit poses. On Oct. 1, 2013, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that prohibits anyone from posting identifiable nude images of their lovers after a breakup.
Bollaert is now taken into custody and will be sentenced on April 3. He faces a maximum possible punishment of 20 years in prison.
