California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris said today that the state has arrested Kevin Bollaert, a 27-year-old man from San Diego who allegedly created a ‘revenge porn’ site. Police say that Bollaert admitted that the site was ruining his life.
Prosecutors say that Bollaert posted as much as 10,000 explicit images and would extort as much as $350 from his victims when they requested the images be taken down. The images of people from California and elsewhere were posted between Dec. 2, 2012 and Sept. 17, 2013.
According to The Washington Post, it is believed that Bollaert created “ugotposted.com” last December and “changemyreputation.com” in October. He made as much as $10,000 from the sites.
“This website published intimate photos of unsuspecting victims and turned their public humiliation and betrayal into a commodity with the potential to devastate lives,” Harris said in a statement. “Online predators that profit from the extortion of private photos will be investigated and prosecuted for this reprehensible and illegal internet activity.”
“At the beginning, it was fun and entertainment, but now, it’s just, like, ruining my life,” Bollaert told investigators, reports The LA Times.
Bollaert will be arraigned on 31 felony counts of conspiracy, identity theft and extortion on Dec. 17 and faces jail time and fines.
Earlier this year, the state did pass a law that made creating a revenge porn site a misdemeanor.