4 ms·

Ok, bad guy, but that sentence is insane. 18 years!?

by vvpan 12y ago

butwhy 12y ago
I feel like some information is being left or. What was the nature of the counts for identity fraud?
- raverbashing 12y ago
  Maybe the fact that the girls posted on the site had their name and Facebook profile included?
- michaelchisari 12y ago
  I think the extortion part is probably a bigger factor in sentencing than identity fraud. Soliciting compromising photos, and then extorting people to have them removed. He effectively started a criminal organization. A stupid, poorly hidden white collar criminal enterprise, but one nonetheless. Not much different from sending muscle to collect protection money.
michaelchisari 12y ago
America in general has extraordinarily long prison sentences. But this isn't that long, in relation to others, if you consider that this amounts to a criminal enterprise with many multiple, provable victims.
- venomsnake 12y ago
  And how 18 years will help reform that guy better than 5 or 10? While some short stints in prison may be a good way to cool off some heads, spending the majority of one's productive life behind bars for non violent crime is troubling. Home arrest without internet is better option. He wastes government money, he will come out without job or ability to be reintegrated into the society ...
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    Unlike, say, the Federal system, California has near universal parole; IIRC, the norm, barring particularly bad conduct in prison, is serving 1/3 to 1/2 the sentence, so an 18 year sentence is effectively pretty close to 5 or 10 years.
  - michaelchisari 12y ago
    I think that's a valid point, but if you're going to take up that cause, there are much better people to champion than him.
    - venomsnake 12y ago
      I think that starting from unsympathetic person is better. It was despicable, but still non violent. If he is not physically dangerous for anyone, then the case for keeping him behind bars is weak ...
  - falcolas 12y ago
    Most Americans don't see prison as a place we send people to reform them, we see prison as a place we send people to punish them. Viewed in this light, the 18 year sentence (ensuring that with parole opportunities and overcrowding he will stay in prison at least 4-9 years), sees that he is "appropriately" punished, and others who might try and follow in his footsteps are deterred for fear of getting the same punishment.
UnoriginalGuy 12y ago
Indeed. The guy definitely deserves jail, no doubt about that. But for 18 years he literally could have killed someone or committed roughly three rapes. It is also worth considering that the people actually doing the literal posting deserve some of the "credit" for the crime also. He facilitated, and that definitely can be illegal, however they too deserve culpability here. I'd say this was a 1-3 year crime. With the people doing the literal postings also getting 6 months to 1.5 years a each. PS - Maybe I lack the full facts of the case. edit: Appears like some of the victims were under age and he used a "hacker" to steal revealing images somehow(?) from victims which got him 15 charges under CFAA.
- michaelchisari 12y ago
  PS - Maybe I lack the full facts of the case. Pay attention to the extortion aspect of it. Identity fraud and harassment are one thing, but directly extorting people has never been something you get off with a slap on the wrist.
  - Dylan16807 12y ago
    300 bucks each from 100 people, that's not something that deserves multiple decades.
    - cldellow 12y ago
      Those are the successful extortions. The article doesn't say how many other people sensibly decided "Fuck this blackmail" and refused to pay up.
      - Dylan16807 12y ago
        Attempted extortion isn't worth decades either, no matter how many people were involved.
ChuckMcM 12y ago
Well it will be interesting what the actual term is, since in California the prisons are over crowded, the most anyone actually serves seems to be 1/2 their sentence [1], so 9 years. There are also changes all the time to the parole system [2] which try to relieve over crowding by getting non-violent offenders out early. That said, the guy really did a lot of damage to a lot of people who will never get their life back the way they want too, and this has to weigh on the judge's mind as well. [1] http://blog.la-criminal-defense.com/how-credit-for-time-served-works/ http://blog.la-criminal-defense.com/how-credit-for-time-serv... -- note he doesn't have to register as a 'sex offender' [2] http://www.shouselaw.com/parolehub.html http://www.shouselaw.com/parolehub.html
anigbrowl 12y ago
six counts of extortion and 21 counts of identity theft so about 8 months each, if you want to think of it that way. He'll be up for parole in 6 or 8 years - I think, but it's late and I don't feel like reading through the rules now.
abalone 12y ago
With reportedly 10,000 pictures posted, that's only 1.5 days per picture. It's not murder, each incident is a lesser crime, but by replicating it manifold with the tool of the internet he magnified its impact by several orders of magnitude. He's responsible for using that tool and allowing it to grow to an extraordinary level of criminality and grief.

Ok, bad guy, but that sentence is insane. 18 years!?

by vvpan 12y ago

Ok, bad guy, but that sentence is insane. 18 years!?

butwhy 12y ago

I feel like some information is being left or. What was the nature of the counts for identity fraud?

raverbashing 12y ago
Maybe the fact that the girls posted on the site had their name and Facebook profile included?
michaelchisari 12y ago
I think the extortion part is probably a bigger factor in sentencing than identity fraud. Soliciting compromising photos, and then extorting people to have them removed. He effectively started a criminal organization. A stupid, poorly hidden white collar criminal enterprise, but one nonetheless. Not much different from sending muscle to collect protection money.

michaelchisari 12y ago

America in general has extraordinarily long prison sentences. But this isn't that long, in relation to others, if you consider that this amounts to a criminal enterprise with many multiple, provable victims.

venomsnake 12y ago
And how 18 years will help reform that guy better than 5 or 10? While some short stints in prison may be a good way to cool off some heads, spending the majority of one's productive life behind bars for non violent crime is troubling. Home arrest without internet is better option. He wastes government money, he will come out without job or ability to be reintegrated into the society ...
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  Unlike, say, the Federal system, California has near universal parole; IIRC, the norm, barring particularly bad conduct in prison, is serving 1/3 to 1/2 the sentence, so an 18 year sentence is effectively pretty close to 5 or 10 years.
- michaelchisari 12y ago
  I think that's a valid point, but if you're going to take up that cause, there are much better people to champion than him.
  - venomsnake 12y ago
    I think that starting from unsympathetic person is better. It was despicable, but still non violent. If he is not physically dangerous for anyone, then the case for keeping him behind bars is weak ...
- falcolas 12y ago
  Most Americans don't see prison as a place we send people to reform them, we see prison as a place we send people to punish them. Viewed in this light, the 18 year sentence (ensuring that with parole opportunities and overcrowding he will stay in prison at least 4-9 years), sees that he is "appropriately" punished, and others who might try and follow in his footsteps are deterred for fear of getting the same punishment.

UnoriginalGuy 12y ago

Indeed. The guy definitely deserves jail, no doubt about that. But for 18 years he literally could have killed someone or committed roughly three rapes. It is also worth considering that the people actually doing the literal posting deserve some of the "credit" for the crime also. He facilitated, and that definitely can be illegal, however they too deserve culpability here. I'd say this was a 1-3 year crime. With the people doing the literal postings also getting 6 months to 1.5 years a each. PS - Maybe I lack the full facts of the case. edit: Appears like some of the victims were under age and he used a "hacker" to steal revealing images somehow(?) from victims which got him 15 charges under CFAA.

michaelchisari 12y ago
PS - Maybe I lack the full facts of the case. Pay attention to the extortion aspect of it. Identity fraud and harassment are one thing, but directly extorting people has never been something you get off with a slap on the wrist.
- Dylan16807 12y ago
  300 bucks each from 100 people, that's not something that deserves multiple decades.
  - cldellow 12y ago
    Those are the successful extortions. The article doesn't say how many other people sensibly decided "Fuck this blackmail" and refused to pay up.
    - Dylan16807 12y ago
      Attempted extortion isn't worth decades either, no matter how many people were involved.

ChuckMcM 12y ago

Well it will be interesting what the actual term is, since in California the prisons are over crowded, the most anyone actually serves seems to be 1/2 their sentence [1], so 9 years. There are also changes all the time to the parole system [2] which try to relieve over crowding by getting non-violent offenders out early. That said, the guy really did a lot of damage to a lot of people who will never get their life back the way they want too, and this has to weigh on the judge's mind as well. [1] http://blog.la-criminal-defense.com/how-credit-for-time-served-works/ http://blog.la-criminal-defense.com/how-credit-for-time-serv... -- note he doesn't have to register as a 'sex offender' [2] http://www.shouselaw.com/parolehub.html http://www.shouselaw.com/parolehub.html

anigbrowl 12y ago

six counts of extortion and 21 counts of identity theft so about 8 months each, if you want to think of it that way. He'll be up for parole in 6 or 8 years - I think, but it's late and I don't feel like reading through the rules now.

abalone 12y ago

With reportedly 10,000 pictures posted, that's only 1.5 days per picture. It's not murder, each incident is a lesser crime, but by replicating it manifold with the tool of the internet he magnified its impact by several orders of magnitude. He's responsible for using that tool and allowing it to grow to an extraordinary level of criminality and grief.