back to article 'Black hat' extortionist thrown back in the clink after Yelp-slamming biz

Sometimes it's best to just let old grudges go. A man previously sent down for trying extort a company with hacking threats has been thrown back behind bars for more than eight years for targeting that same business with negative reviews just weeks after being released. William Stanley was sentenced earlier this month to 97 …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    8 years?

    Of course... it's America, where crimes against companies are more serious than crimes against people.

    Us Aussies love Americans, but sort out your corrupt politics. geeze.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Reputational crimes

      You trash someone else's reputation and you get jailed.

      You trash your own reputation and you get elected.

    2. kain preacher

      Re: 8 years?

      the 8 years is because he is a repeat offender. They gave him 3 years the first time He could even wait two months after he got out of jail

    3. mrobaer

      Re: 8 years?

      What's wrong with 8yrs for a 2nd offense (and possibly a parole/probaiton violation?) and the nature of it being against a victim of his previous offense? Typically, here in the states 8yrs would be eligible for parole after 4, so he might sit 4 and walk off 4.

      1. kain preacher

        Re: 8 years?

        mrobaer

        At tthe federal level you do 80% of your time .

      2. steviebuk Silver badge

        Re: 8 years?

        Because it's not like he murdered anyone. I'm not comparing him to Kevin Mitnick, as Kevin wasn't so bad. But even people told him who were in for murder while he was inside that his sentence (which never was as he never was charged) was to harsh. Considering he served 4 and a half years before he'd been found guilty.

    4. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: 8 years?

      The initial imprisonment was for extortion against a particular victim.

      The second was for "retaliation against a witness, victim, or informant", in other words against the justice system itself. Property does not enter into this at all. No wonder it's the more serious offence.

      Not mentioned in the article but does he get to serve the remainder of the 37 months consecutive with the new sentence?

      1. kain preacher

        Re: 8 years?

        "Not mentioned in the article but does he get to serve the remainder of the 37 months consecutive with the new sentence?"

        Typically it's consecutive unless the judge and the prosecutor are pissed at you.

      2. mrobaer

        Re: 8 years?

        He was picked up in 2014 some time and was locked up from that point on. It seems logical he was credited with that time served towards his sentence.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 8 years?

      "sort out your corrupt politics"

      Pot meet Kettle.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 8 years?

        > sort out your corrupt politics"

        > Pot meet Kettle.

        Really? An American dares to call out any other western countrys politics?

        Nearly all political systems are corrupt, but they are angels compared to americas cesspool... And this isn't a personal attack on the American people --- why do you automatically defend something a foreigner critiscises even though you probably hold the same view yourself? It's very immature.

  2. Robert Helpmann??
    Paris Hilton

    Bonehead Award

    When someone is locked up, it is normally to protect society from them. In this case, it is arguably to protect the perp from himself. While the sentence is fairly harsh, I think he went out of the way to demonstrate that he was never going to stop and that he was never not going to get caught. Basically, it was as if he had a checklist of how to piss off a judge and he managed to add a few boxes.

  3. Martin-73 Silver badge

    first amendment rights anyone?

    1. James O'Shea

      He has the right to yap. And the right to get slapped as a result of yapping. He yapped. He got slapped.

    2. kain preacher

      Since when do you have a 1st amendment right to harass some one, lie about them and not have legal consequences? Also when you are on parole you have your rights further limited and you have conditions.

    3. Mayday
      Holmes

      Freedom of Speech

      Sure, you can say what you please about anyone you please.

      Impunity does not apply and you must accept the consequences of what you choose to say or type about them.

    4. Valeyard

      Freedom of speech is always the defence of the troll, but slander is a law too which overrides it, and re-targetting a victim is just asking for whatever they can throw at you

      1. Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?

        In the words of Sir Terry...

        "You see I believe in freedom. Not many people do, although they will of course protest otherwise. And no practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences. Indeed, it is the freedom upon which all the others are based."

        People should indeed be free to do as they choose but people, especially those who argue freedom of speech in any and all circumstances, seem to think they should also be free of any consequences. In those cases, I refer you to the words of Sir Terry quoted above.

        1. MachDiamond Silver badge

          Re: In the words of Sir Terry...

          Lord Vetinari is a wise tyrant.

    5. Aodhhan

      Reread the first amendment and court cases regarding it.

      You don't have the right to say anything at anytime.

      First amendment means you can speak out against the government without reprisal. Doesn't mean you can trash your neighbor, slander or threaten people.

      Someone didn't do their homework in school, and only listens to moronic political laced comments.

    6. Martin-73 Silver badge

      Re Downvotes

      I'm a rightpondian. I was being sarcastic :)

  4. mark l 2 Silver badge

    What an idiot, Surely he was the first suspect they would investigate when fake negative reviews started to appear shortly after he was released, and by the sound of it, he was doing the fake reviews from the half way house, which I am assuming would be logging internet activity if they had ex-cons staying there.

    1. David Roberts
      Holmes

      Fake negative reviews?

      Nowhere in the article did I see a claim that the reviews were fake. As an ex-employee he claimed he had done some dubious work for GE. He also assembled links to negative articles about GE.

      Looks like he (rightly) went to prison after trying extortion with the threat of publishing negative reviews, then when he got out he carried out the threat. Given that he had been jailed for making the threat the outcome was probably predictable.

      The crime, though, was the attempted extortion. If he had just posted a negative review on Glassdoor and assembled a site with negative reviews I assume that GE would have had to challenge the truth of any allegations. If the reviews were in good faith then this might have been a harder task for GE.

      Still, looks like you get more jail time for an offence against a corporate than more mundane stuff like violence.

      1. Aodhhan

        Re: Fake negative reviews?

        All parole conditions will come with a statement (to the effect) of staying away from those affected by your actions which originally landed you in jail/prison.

        Along with about 20 other items.

        In the USA, any violation of your parole will put you back for the full time (for state/local sentences), and will likely cause you to face new FEDERAL charges. Under federal sentencing guidelines, you serve the entire sentence. No chance of parole after 12 months.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    He must like prisons

    Maybe he's working on his three strikes career criminal status?

    1. MachDiamond Silver badge

      Re: He must like prisons

      Maybe he made some new "friends" while in and wanted to get back to them.

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