A judge Monday will consider a motion to modify the sentence for a man who posted thousands of nude and sexually explicit photos of women on his website without their permission, then set up a second website where they had to pay up to $350 to get the photos taken down.
Kevin Bollaert, 29, was convicted in February on 27 felony counts of extortion and identity theft. The case marked the first criminal prosecution of a cyber-exploitation website operator in the country, according to state Attorney General Kamala Harris.
In April, Superior Court Judge David Gill sentenced Bollaert to 18 years in prison, to be served in a local jail.
Deputy Public Defender Emily Rose-Weber noted in court documents that Bollaert's sentence under California's public safety realignment law for nonviolent offenders was record breaking.
The defense attorney said in a letter that state prisons were better equipped to house inmates serving lengthy sentences.
During the trial, 21 victims testified that they were embarrassed and humiliated when their private nude photos and personal identifying information turned up on a now-defunct website called "yougotposted.com."
Bollaert allowed users to upload 10,170 private explicit photographs anonymously to "yougotposted.com" between December 2012 and September 2013.
Unlike other "revenge porn" sites, "yougotposted.com" prompted users to also share personal identifying information about the subject in the photo, including name, age and address, according to prosecutors.
Deputy Attorney General Tawnya Boulan said Bollaert "vilified the Internet" and "violated a moral social compact" out of greed.
