Victims Says Not Notified of Plea to Extortion Instead of Photos Of Them as Defendant Gets No Jail Time in SDNY
While SDNY prosecutors question Epstein's Florida NPA, in this case they let a man charged with producing child porn plead guilty only to extortion, not register as sex offender
By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Podcast of this
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Dec 21 – Griffin Kapelus was charged with production of child pornography, possession of child pornography, and extortion, for directing a number of victims to sent photos and videos of themselves and then threatening to post them online.
Kapelus was allowed to plead guilty only to extortion.
On December 21 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Sidney H. Stein held his sentencing. Inner City Press covered it.
A number of victims spoke. Outrage was expressed at allowing Kapelus to plead guilty only to extortion, and thus not register as a sex offender.
A victim said she would have spoke at the change of plea proceeding but was not notified about it.
Another victim said there had been no contact by Probation, which recommended no jail time. A victim said she is unsure she will even trust a man again, will always live in fear of these images resurfacing on the Internet, how will she explain them?
Judge Stein said this was a case with pain on all sides. He noted the defendant's history of mental health issues.
When Judge Stein issued his sentence - three years of probation with Internet monitoring and no social media without prior permission - there was a loud "b*llshit!" on the line.
Judge Stein to his credit took note of it, saying that he had heard someone expressing a negative opinion. Inner City Press heard it too.
The case is US v. Kapelus, 20-cr-511 (Stein)
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