A San Diego man who operated a 'revenge porn ' website and then charged victims to remove nude images and their personal information was sentenced Friday to 18 years in state prison , the attorney general 's office said . Kevin Bollaert , 28 , was convicted in February of 21 counts of identity theft and six counts of extortion in San Diego Superior Court for running a pair of websites that capitalized on the internet as a forum for public shaming . The landmark case was the first time a person had been tried for a running revenge porn ring in the United States . Jilted lovers and hackers could anonymously post nude photos of people without their consent , along with personal information about them , at a website Bollaert created and moderated , called ugotposted.com . More than 10,000 images , mainly of women , were posted between December 2012 and September 2013 . Crying in court : Kevin Bollaert , 28 , broke down in tears at his sentencing hearing in San Diego on Friday . He was facing a maximum of 20 years but was given 18 , with the judge saying the sentence accurately reflected the amount of victims he hurt . Shameful : In a first-of-its-kind ruling , Bollaert was sentenced t 18 years for running a 'revenge porn ' site , publishing nude and embarassing photos of women sent in anonymously by people wanting to hurt them . People who sought to have the explicit images taken down were directed to changemyreputation.com and charged $ 250 to $ 350 to remove the racy content . Victims included teachers , wives and professionals . The compromising photos cost people jobs , damaged relationships and led to one attempted suicide . Bollaert earned about $ 900 a month in website ad revenue and collected about $ 30,000 from victims . Bollaert 's lawyer had claimed at trial that the business was gross and offensive , but he did n't break the law by allowing others to post the explicit material . 'It 's gross , it 's offensive , but it 's not illegal , ' Emily Rose-Weber said . Ruined : In spite of the thousands of emails he got begging to have photos taken down , Bollaert told investigators it was his life that had been ruined by the site . Terrorized : Some of the victims appeared in court , anonymously , to read victim impact statements . Many said their lives had been irrevocably ruined by Bollaert and his site . But the prosecution said Bollaert terrorized women and enjoyed doing it . Not only would he the photos , but the names , addresses and social media details of the people in them . Many victims were inundated with harassing messages from strangers . Investigators found that Bollaert received thousands of distressed emails from victims , one who said she was 'scared for my life ' and another who said she 'd been 'getting nonstop harassing messages . ' The criminal complaint named more than two dozen people as victims , one of whom claimed she was thrown out of her home after her family found out nude photos had been posted of her . 'It ruined my life and I 'm still going through it , ' she testified . ' I lost my family . They think that I brought shame on them . My reputation is ruined . ' Some of the women read victim impact statements in court , according to NBC San Diego . One victim said : 'It 's just broken me on a level that 's not describable . The only thing I have left is shame and anger . ' Convicted : Kevin Bollaert , 28 , was facing 20 years after being found guilty of extortion and identity theft for running a despicable scheme for victims to pay to have their images removed from his revenge porn site . Mashable reported that Bollaert , in an interview with agents from the California Department of Justice 's eCrime Unit , explained the site was 'just , like , ruining my life . ' 'Yeah , I realize like this is not a good situation , ' Bollaert said according to the complaint . ' I feel bad about the whole thing and like I just do n't want to do it anymore . ' ' I mean I know a lot of people are getting screwed over like on the site . Like their lives are getting ruined , ' he said . The trial of Hunter Moore , called 'the most hated man on the Internet ' for running isanyoneup.com , is yet to go before court .
Kevin Bollaert was found guilty of 27 counts of identity theft and extortion . He operated ugotposted.com , where anonymous users posted nudes without the subject 's consent . He then earned tens of thousands from running changemyreputation.com , where victims would pay fees of $ 350 to $ 300 to have their photos removed . Also published their names , addresses and social media details . He was sentenced to 18 years Friday . Judge said the sentence reflected the amount of victims . Prosecutors said he took pleasure in hurting women .