A judge Monday affirmed an 18-year sentence for a "revenge porn" defendant who extorted thousands of dollars from women after posting their nude and sexually explicit photos on his website, but modified the term to allow his release from custody after eight years.
Superior Court Judge David Gill ordered the "split sentence" for Kevin Bollaert, who was convicted in February in what state Attorney General Kamala Harris said was the first criminal prosecution of a cyber-exploitation website operator in the country.
Bollaert, 29, was sentenced in April to 18 years in prison and is serving his time in a local jail.
Under California's prison realignment policy, a judge can order a "split sentence" for nonviolent offenders, with some time in custody and the remainder on supervised release in the community.
Deputy Public Defender Emily Rose-Weber told the judge Monday that Bollaert couldn't better himself in local custody and spends much of his time alone.
"What can he do other than walk around in circles?," Weber asked, suggesting that state prisons have better rehabilitation programs than local detention facilities.
The attorney said Bollaert was living a "horrible life" at the George Bailey Detention Facility and "can't do anything" to improve his life.
Bollaert's father told the judge that his son was being treated like an "animal" in local custody and guaranteed the defendant wouldn't repeat his criminal actions.
"He has a compass. He went off course," the father said.
Deputy Attorney General Tawnya Boulan Austin unsuccessfully argued that Bollaert serve 10 years in custody before being released on community supervision.
Bollaert is expected to serve about 50 percent of his custodial sentence before being released, the judge said.
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. The defendant had a second website that charged victims money to get the photos taken down.
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.
