Mugshot Website Founders Facing Criminal Charges

The men are charged with extorting millions of dollars from people.

Mugshot Website Founders Facing Criminal Charges

In the age of the internet, it is a lesson that often has to be learned the hard way: once something is online, it is often there to stay. Many people have discovered this after doing something ill-advised, like posting a picture or making a comment on social media that they later regretted. Yet one group of men created a website that was specifically designed to take advantage of this aspect of the internet — and profit off of people’s desire to clean up their internet history.

Mugshots.com is a website that would gather information from law enforcement websites across the country. According to a Rancho Cucamonga criminal defense attorney, the owners of the website would take data, including mug shots and arrest information, and publish it to Mugshots.com. Individuals could then pay a separate website — owned by the same people — to have their picture and information removed from Mugshots.com. This fee was as high as $400.

Recently, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced that the four owners of the website are being charged with a number of California crimes for their victimization of California residents. According to the complaint filed against these men, Mugshots.com extorted 175 Californians out of more than $64,000 over a 3 year period. One victim informed police that while he was arrested by the police, he was never charged with a crime; although he attempted to have the photo removed from the website, the owners refused to do so without payment. He claimed to have lost job opportunities as a result.

As a Rancho Cucamonga criminal defense attorney can explain, extortion is a felony under California law, punishable by up to four years in county jail, a fine of up to $10,000 and/or formal probation. To convict a person of extortion, a prosecutor must prove four elements:

  1. The defendant threatened to do any one of the following acts to the victim:
    Unlawfully injure or use force against him or her, a third party, or his or her property;
  2. Accuse him or her, or a relative or family member of a crime, OR
    Expose a secret involving him or her, or a family member, or connect any of them with some kind of crime, disgrace, or scandal;
  3. When making the threat or using force, the defendant intended to force the victim into consenting to give him or her money or property, or to do an official act;
  4. As a result of the threat, the victim did consent to give the defendant money or property or do an official act; AND
    The victim did give the defendant money or property or perform the official act.

In the mugshot website case, the prosecutor will have to prove each element in order to successfully convict the owners of the website. In addition, prosecutors have brought money laundering and identity theft charges against the men.

If you have been charged with a California crime, you will need skilled legal representation to defend you. Contact the Chambers Law Firm today at 714-760-4088 or dchambers@clfca.com to schedule a free initial consultation with an experienced Rancho Cucamonga criminal defense attorney. Our highly skilled, aggressive team of professionals will stand by your side throughout the process.

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