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Prosecutors: NYPD officer conspired to kidnap, cook, eat women
Editor's note: Gilberto Valle, a New York police officer accused of conspiring to kidnap, rape, torture and cook a number of women and eat their body parts, has been arrested and charged in federal court.
Here are the latest developments on this story.
[Updated at 9:11 p.m ET] A federal prosecutor and defense attorney argued in court Thursday whether a New York police officer's sexually deviant online conversations amounted to "idle, harmless talk" or a real threat to scores of women.
Prosecutor Hadassa Waxman contended that Gilberto Valle conducted online conversations "in gruesome detail," staked out would-be victims from his police car and had taken "affirmative steps" to carry out his "operational plan."
"This is not a fantasy," Waxman said during the suspect's initial court appearance. "Each name is real."
Defense lawyer Julia Gatto called the accusations against her client "exaggerated," saying Valle participated in one of thousands of fetish chat rooms online in which people "talk about unreal things." What they discuss may be sexually deviant, but she stressed that no one was physically harmed by her client, who is the father of a 1-year-old child.
"The best (the government) alleges is idle, harmless talk," Gatto said.
Judge Henry Pitman sided with the prosecution, ordering Valle to remain detained pending trial. He described the allegations as "extremely disturbing" descriptions of "depraved conduct."
What made it especially troubling, the judge said, was that the suspect is a law enforcement officer and "he carried a gun."
[Updated at 7:20 p.m. ET] Valle, 28, is being held in federal custody without bail after not entering a plea Thursday during a federal court session in Manhattan.
The New York police officer is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and one count of illegally accessing and getting information from the National Crime Information Center database.
At Thursday's court proceeding, his lawyer Julia Gatto said the alleged plans discovered by authorities on Valle's computer amounted to "just talk."
"At worse, these are sexual fantasies with people he knows," the defense attorney said.
[Updated at 5:08 p.m. ET] A New York police officer accused of conspiring to kidnap, rape, torture and cook a number of women and eat their body parts has been arrested , the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan said Thursday.
Valle, a six-year NYPD veteran, was arrested Wednesday at his home in Queens. He is accused of illegally accessing a national crime database to locate potential targets, scouting potential targets at their homes and workplaces, and exchanging e-mails and instant messages with alleged co-conspirators about plans to target women, the attorney's office said.
From OkCupid: Accused NYPD officer Gilberto Valle, 28.
“Gilberto Valle's alleged plans to kidnap women so that they could be raped, tortured, killed, cooked, and cannibalized shock the conscience," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said. "This case is all the more disturbing when you consider Valle's position as a New York City police officer and his sworn duty to serve and protect. Our investigation is ongoing."
According to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation, Valle - who the source says has a clean record - apparently discussed the plans with other men on a website for people who fantasize about cannibalism. Authorities have no evidence he planned to carry out any of the acts he allegedly plotted with others on the online fantasy website, a law enforcement source says.
The NYPD has suspended him without pay, a department spokeswoman said Thursday.
A criminal complaint filed in federal court says Valle was in contact with at least two women mentioned in his plans, though FBI spokesman J. Peter Donald told CNN the agency has "no information to believe Mr. Valle harmed anyone at this time."
The investigation began in September when the FBI learned that Valle was sending e-mails and instant messages from his home computer, detailing his plans, the bureau said.
A search of his computer revealed a database of "at least 100 women and containing at least one photograph of each woman," according to a statement from Bharara's office. "The computer also contained personal information about some of these women - including relevant addresses, physical descriptions and photographs - and electronic communications in which Valle and co-conspirators detailed their plans."
The FBI declined to say how it learned of Valle's electronic communications. A law enforcement source told CNN that Valle's estranged wife contacted authorities after finding pornography on his computer.
According to the court documents, the computer contained a document that Valle allegedly created in July, containing an action plan to cook a certain woman that authorities identify as “Victim 1.” The title, authorities say, was “Abducting and Cooking [Victim 1]: a Blueprint.”
The plan, which had information about the woman’s name, date of birth, height, weight and bra size, has a section called “Materials Needed,” in which Valle allegedly wrote:
“Car (I have it)
Chloroform (refer to website for directions)
Rope (Strongest kind to tie her up."
The court documents say Valle also exchanged online messages with an alleged co-conspirator about planning to abduct and cook Victim 1. In one of the exchanges, according to the court documents, Valle allegedly wrote, “She does look tasty, doesn’t she?”
“You do know if we don’t waste any of her there is nearly 75 lbs of food there,” the other person replied, according to the court documents.
The complaint also says Valle negotiated in February with a different person on a price for Valle to kidnap a different woman, whom the complaint identifies only as Victim 2. Valle wrote of kidnapping the woman for the alleged co-conspirator for $5,000, and resisted the co-conspirator’s attempt to lower the price, the complaint says.
“Like I said this is very risky and will ruin my life if I am caught,” Valle wrote, according to the complaint. “I really need the money and I can’t take under $5,000 for [Victim 2].”
The complaint also accuses Valle of illegally getting information about a third woman, Victim 3, from the National Crime Information Center database. The name of that woman matched a name that investigators found in Valle’s alleged files of women on his home computer, the complaint says.
The women in Valle's alleged database live in the United States and overseas, according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation. At least three of them know Valle, another law enforcement source said. Court documents show one of the alleged targets dined with Valle at a Maryland restaurant.
The 100 women are in the process of being identified, then notified by federal and local authorities.
On Twitter
Holy moley!
How did this guy pass the psychological tests?
This is horrific!
Man, people get sicker everyday...
Around here they only recently started psych tests for newbie cops. Google 'Frank Jude beating' to learn why. The next 2 recruit classes had over a 30% failure rate on the psych tests, which doesn't produce a good feeling about the thousands of cops hired before the testing started. Considering that being a cop is about the highest stress job around, a one-shot test as part of the hiring process really isn't good enough – the tests need to be annual in order to find those who crack under the stress of the job.
I'll bet the IT guys ratted on him.
Hi banasy.
Hi, BOMBO.
IT folks are very useful.
Be *nice* to them, lol.
He probably has a good recipe for "ladyfingers".
Hi banasy and BOMBO
Hey, Rawr.
What's the haps?
@ banasy
Things are pretty good here. Just trying to recoop from my vacation. It was an adventure I didn't expect. The fall colors up there were absolutely breathtaking. When we crossed into the mountains in Tenn, it went from nothing but green to an explosion of color. I'm still high on that sight.
LOL : )
Shut up the three of you, or you'll be a part of my mulligan stew. This is CNN comment boards, not a nice time chat-a-thon.
What bothers me is he had co-conspirators. By the way, this is called "sensationalism" reporting. Something the "Inquirer" does.
Tabloid reporting is becoming more and more pervasive these days; just look at what is happening with our so-called "news" shows.
That aside, it's still news...
Five cannibals(Man eaters) get appointed as programmers in an IT company.
During the welcoming ceremony the boss says: "You're all part of our team
now. You can earn good money here, and you can go to the company canteen
for something to eat. So don't trouble the other employees". The cannibals
promise not to trouble the other employees.
Four weeks later the boss returns and says: "You're all working very hard,
and I'm very satisfied with all of you. One of our developers has
disappeared however. Do any of you know what happened to her?" The
cannibals disown all knowledge of the missing developer.
After the boss has left, the leader of the cannibals says to the others:
"Which of you idiots ate the developer?"
One of the cannibals raises his hand hesitantly, to which the leader of the
cannibals says: "You FOOL! For four weeks we've been eating team leaders,
managers, and project managers and no-one has noticed anything, and now
YOU ate one developer and it got noticed. So hereafter please don't eat a person who is working.
I cannot BELIEVE you have a joke that connects cannibals with an IT department, but I have to (ahem) hand it to you, you did it...
Yeah, I know. That story was really eating me up.
You shouldn't let things like that devour you.
Yea, an IT consultant told basically the same joke in a meeting about a dozen years ago. Considering that I was the Team Leader and my boss was the Project Manager that probably boosted our productivity at least 20%. I wonder if they taught that in some 'be a consultant' class or something...
You're right as usual. There's no sense losing ones head over this.
I remember an old cartoon where a cannibal had a couple of people in Red Cross shirts in a large cauldron over a file. The cannibal tells them "We must all chose our own way to serve humanity".
driranek, that made me lmbo! Thanks!
I don't get it.
A cannibal chief invited over another cannibal chief from a different tribe over for dinner. They sit down and eat the best meat. After dinner, the visiting cannibal chief said, "Wow that was good! Your wife makes the best meat." Then the other cannibal chief said, "Yeah, I'm gonna miss her..."
This one is even funnier ! Thanks BCIAH : )
This man will become a Republican hero since the GOP and Mitt Romney believe that violence against women is "God's will".
Nah, that's just that idiot from Indiana Murdoch that believe that, I hope...
But really, bringing politics into this?
Why don't they publish this guy's photo all over the place? Who knows what else he has been up to?
I guess just shooting people wasn't good enough for him.
He's got a binder full of women.
Is he like Muslim cannibal or something?
To think I seethed at the cop who gave me a speeding ticket and thought he was evil.
I know, right?
Puts things in perspective...
Wow that's just messed up...
Why do they think this pervert really intended to go through with? There are hundreds of thousands of perverts fantasizing out there without actually doing the things. The point is that a real sadist should not he a policeman.
I'm going to add one word to this – to see if it changes your opinion:
> A man > going to kill 100 people > has plans > has photos of targets > has everything assembled and ready > is online boasting.
So – what is the difference if he says he is going to bomb them. One word difference.
Remember, he has photos, layouts – everything in his apartment, lending to the fact he was going to do this. Except he has not done it yet.
Tell me – what really is the difference between him telling the people in the chat he was going to BOMB rather then kill one by one. We know this would be very different.
I wonder if this will affect his chances of promotion.