18-Year Sentence Handed To Site Operator For Extorting Women On Adult Video Website

A San Diego man was given an 18-year jail term for operating a revenge adult video website showing nude and compromising photos of women who he charged to remove their pictures.

Kevin Bollaert, 28, was convicted in February of 21 counts of identity theft and six counts of extortion and sentenced Friday to 18 years behind bars for operating his revenge adult video site.

Attorney General Kamala Harris told the San Diego Union Tribune this was the first time a revenge porn site operator was prosecuted in the U.S.

“Sitting behind a computer, committing what is essentially a cowardly and criminal act will not shield predators from the law or jail. We will continue to be vigilant and investigate and prosecute those who commit these deplorable acts.”

Bollaert managed the website ugotposted.com where nude and compromising photos were uploaded by jilted ex lovers. The racy photos included personal information about the victim like their name and the city they lived in, and also linked to their Facebook and Twitter social media accounts.

More than 10,000 nude and compromising pictures were posted to the revenge porn site.

When victims contacted Bollaert and asked to have their pictures removed from the revenge porn site, he referred them to another site he owned called changemyreputation.com where they were charged as much as $350 to have their photo taken down.

Bollaert told the court he made about $900 a month in advertising fees and $30,000 from charging victims.

Victims told the court the photos damaged their lives and cost them their jobs, their relationships, and in one case, resulted in an attempted suicide.

One victim told the court her family threw her out after the photos surfaced on the revenge porn site, according to the Daily Mail.

“It ruined my life and I’m still going through it. I lost my family. They think that I brought shame on them. My reputation is ruined.”

Bollaert must serve at least half his sentence before being eligible for parole and also pay a $10,000 fine.

Revenge porn, or the act of posting someone else’s nude photos online, was made illegal in California in 2013.

In California’s first revenge porn conviction, Noe Iniguez was jailed for a year in December for posting a topless photo of his ex girlfriend to her employers Facebook page, according to the Inquisitr.

Meanwhile, the case of revenge porn king Hunter Moore, sometimes called the most hated man on the Internet, is yet to go to court.