‘Revenge porn’ site ‘ruining my life,’ accused operator told cops

SAN DIEGO — The 27-year-old man accused of operating a “revenge porn” website allegedly told investigators that what started out as fun had ended up ruining his life.

Kevin Christopher Bollaert was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of operating the website and demanding up to $350 to remove sexually explicit photos of women that were often posted by angry former boyfriends or ex-husbands.

But the popularity of the photo site, and the response from victims, eventually became too much. At one point, Bollaert said he was receiving hundreds of requests from women to remove their images, according to a criminal complaint.

“At the beginning, it was fun and entertainment, but now, it’s just, like, ruining my life,” he told investigators.

Bollaert was originally due to be arraigned in court Wednesday on 31 felony counts of conspiracy, identity theft and extortion, but that date was rescheduled to Dec. 17.

Prosecutors say Bollaert created a website in December 2012 that allowed the anonymous posting of nude and sexually explicit photos, as long as the person posting the picture included the subject’s name, location, age and Facebook profile.

Prosecutors said more than 10,000 images from California and other states were posted from Dec. 2, 2012, to Sept. 17, 2013.

According to court documents, Bollaert also created a second website that he used to contact people whose images were in the photos. He then offered to remove the photos for $299.99 to $350, authorities said.

That, in turn, created a huge response from victims, who according to court documents, started sending emails to Bollaert’s website demanding that pictures of them be removed. In the emails, the women say that posting of the pictures left them angry, scared and feeling violated.

“This website is an absolute disgrace,” emailed one woman. “It makes me sick you run this as your little family business.”

Another woman, from Santa Monica, emailed that after the pictures were posted along with her name and other personal information, she received phone calls, lewd photos and numerous emails from people “asking to ‘hook up.’ ”

Bollaert’s PayPal account indicates he received tens of thousands of dollars from people seeking to have their pictures taken down, according to prosecutors.

He faces 31 felony counts of conspiracy, identity theft and extortion for what Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris called “this reprehensible and illegal Internet activity.”

A new California law makes it a misdemeanor to take and post pictures of a sexual nature on the Internet with intent to harass the subject. The case filed in San Diego County Superior Court alleges violations of existing felony statutes.

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tony.perry@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATsandiego