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Eugene

(62,748 posts)
Fri Jan 16, 2015, 06:58 PM Jan 2015

California 'revenge porn' trial gets under way in San Diego

Source: Reuters

California 'revenge porn' trial gets under way in San Diego

BY MARTY GRAHAM
SAN DIEGO Fri Jan 16, 2015 5:56pm EST

(Reuters) - The trial of a California man accused of running a so-called "revenge porn" website, featuring nude pictures of women often posted by jilted ex-lovers, began in San Diego on Friday in a test of state efforts to clamp down on such sites.

Kevin Boellart, 28, was arrested in 2013 shortly after Governor Jerry Brown signed a first-in-the-nation law to target "revenge porn," defined as the posting of private, explicit photos of others on the Internet to humiliate them.

Boellart, who has pleaded not guilty, is charged with 31 felonies, including one count of conspiracy, 24 counts of identity theft and six counts of extortion.

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Prosecutors have said Boellart's site, which is no longer operational, had featured over 10,000 sexually explicit photos, and that he charged women up to $350 each to remove them. In opening arguments, Deputy Attorney General Tawnya Austin said the site amounted to "21st Century Blackmail."

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/16/us-usa-crime-california-idUSKBN0KP2H520150116
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