A 27-year-old accused of operating a revenge porn website and extorting money from victims pleaded not guilty in a California courtroom Friday.
Kevin Christopher Bollaert, of San Diego, was arraigned in San Diego Superior Court and pleaded not guilt to 31 felony counts, Nick Pachilio, a spokesperson for the California Attorney General, told Mashable,. Bollaert is said to have posted more than 10,000 sexually explicit photos and extorted more than $10,000 during his time running the websites ugotposted.com and changemyreputation.com between December 2012 and September 2013.
See also: It's Still Easy to Get Away With Revenge Porn
California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced Bollaert's arrest on Dec. 10. Though California recently banned revenge porn, prosecutors are not charging Bollaert under the new law, as his case predates it.
Court documents list multiple felony charges against Bollaert, including 28 counts of identity theft, two counts of extortion and one count of conspiracy to commit identity theft.
Investigators said victims wishing to have their photo and personal information removed from ugotposted were directed to changemyreputation, where they were asked to pay $250 to $350. Court documents show several examples of emails victims sent to ugotposted, such as the following one, which was dated July, 12 2013:
Please help! I am scared for my life! People are calling my work place and they obtained that information through this site! I did not give permission for anyone to put up those pictures or my personal information. I have contacted the police but these pictures need to come down! Please!
Bollaert voluntarily removed the site after he learned it was being investigated.
"I feel bad about the whole thing and like I just don't want to do it anymore," Bollaert said to investigators during an interview on Sept. 18. "I mean I know a lot of people are getting screwed over, like, on the site. Like, their lives are getting ruined."
In a separate case also heard on Friday, a federal judge gave Bollaert 15 days in jail and three years supervised probation, after Bollaert pleaded guilty to listing a false address on applications to buy firearms.
Bollaert previously appeared in court in the revenge porn case on Dec. 17, during which his arraignment was delayed by a month. Bollaert was freed on $50,000 bail soon after his arrest. His next scheduled court appearance is on Feb. 24.
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