Couple sentenced to 4 years in prison for extorting plot against actor John Stamos

[News_Editor]

Couple sentenced to 4 years in prison for extorting plot against actor John Stamos

2010-10-09 05:13:14 GMT+7 (ICT)

MARQUETTE, MICHIGAN (BNO NEWS) – A Marquette, Michigan couple on Friday was sentenced to 4 years in prison for their extortion plot against Hollywood actor John Stamos, the FBI said.

Scott Edward Sippola, 31, and Alison Lenore Cross, 24, were found guilty of multiple federal felonies from their attempt to extort $680,000 from Stamos. Sippola was also ordered to 2 years of supervised release and a $15,000 fine and Cross was sentenced to an additional year of supervised release.

Stamos met Cross in 2004, when she was 17 years old, in Orlando, Florida, during spring break. She attended a party with the actor and several other people. They developed a friendship and communicated via email occasionally.

In October 2009, Coss sent emails to the Glee actor indicating that a mysterious person, only known as "Brian," had come in possession of compromising photos of them. Stamos questioned the legitimacy of the claim as nothing unlawful happened at the party. However, Coss claimed to have seen the photos and even paid $10,000 for one.

Coss never sent or showed the alleged picture to Stamos. One month later, the actor began receiving emails from a person who identified himself as "Brian L." The individual claimed that he possessed compromising photos of Stamos and Coss at the 2004 party where he is depicted with strippers and sniffing cocaine.

"Brian L." threatened Stamos to sell the alleged photos to tabloid magazines unless the actor paid him a large sum of money. He alleged that tabloids were in a bidding war to obtain the photographs and had offered $780,000 for the photos.

Stamos was demanded to pay $680,000 in unmarked bills and in order to avoid police detection, "Brian L." established a clandestine drop location. However, Stamos had contacted the FBI for assistance and an undercover agent began communicating with the blackmailer.

On December 2, 2009, the undercover agent and "Brian L." agreed on a drop location near K.I. Sawyer International Airport. A surveillance team was deployed to the location and identified Sippola and Cross and arrested them after watching Sippola on the phone posing as "Brian L." and talking to the agent.

A subsequent search on the suspects' computers and email accounts revealed that Coss and Sippola wrote all the mails signed as "Brian L." FBI interviewed local tabloids to determine if they have been offered to purchase the compromising photos but reporters denied receiving such offer and testified in trial.

Despite detailed searches of the defendant's residence, vehicles, computers, and other storage media, no compromising photos were found. Sippola, at one point, claimed to have hidden the photos in a safe, but agents only found inoffensive photos of Coss and Sippola.

During trial, Stamos declared that he also received emails from a "Jessica T." who claimed to be pregnant with his child and had compromising photos of him. Coss admitted that the pair wrote those emails as well.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2010-10-09

[asiawatcher]

Som Num Na - what idiots