A 27-year-old man was arrested for was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of operating a "revenge porn" website, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Kevin Christopher Bollaert, the alleged owner and operator of ugotpost.com, was reportedly released on $50,000 bail. Bollaert was charged with 31 felony counts of conspiracy, identity theft and extortion.
"At the beginning, it was fun and entertainment, but now, it's just, like, ruining my life," he told investigators, accordin to the LA Times.
The "revenge porn" site became a popular website where scorned exes would post private, sexually explicit photographs of their former girlfriends or ex-wives. Bollaert allegedly demanded an upwards of $350 to remove photographs from the site. The 27-year-old reportedly received hundreds of complaints from victoms to remove their photos.
"This website is an absolute disgrace," one woman wrote in a email to the website. "It makes me sick you run this as your little family business."
According to prosecutors, more than 10,000 images were posted onto the "revenge porn" site from Dec. 2, 2012, to Sept. 17, 2013.
Bollaert's would face up to 22 years in jail if found guilty of the felony charges. California lawmakers are reportedly working to make posting naked photos without the person's consent a misdemeanor charge.
"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," the LA Times reports.
Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris told the LA Times Bollaert's actions were "reprehensible and illegal Internet activity."
"Bollaert's Web site is one such place where anonymous users can upload private photographs. Unlike most of such revenge porn sites, it is mandatory that the explicit photograph includes the full name of the subject, also her location, age as well as the links to her Facebook profile," the International Business Times reports.
