Gilberto Valle

Gilberto Valle III (born April 14, 1984) is a former New York City police officer who was arrested after his wife discovered he was spending time in Internet chat rooms describing detailed plans to abduct, torture, rape and cannibalize women. Valle claimed all the scenarios he described were mere fantasies. The case drew widespread attention for its unusual nature — Valle was dubbed the "Cannibal Cop" — and because of the legal issue of whether describing criminal activities crosses the line into criminal intent.[1]

Gilberto Valle
Born	Gilberto Valle III April 14, 1984 Queens, New York, U.S
Nationality	American
Occupation	Former NYPD officer, currently safety advisor for Fazio Construction
Known for	Acquitted for conspiracy to commit kidnapping from multiple chats describing cannibalism and murder
Spouse(s)	Kathleen Mangan ​ ​ (m. 2010; div. 2013)​
Children	1

Valle was convicted by a jury in March 2013 of conspiracy to kidnap. The judge in the case, Paul Gardephe, overturned the verdict 16 months later.[2] The circuit court later affirmed the acquittal in December 2015, but the prosecution's appeal could yet go to the Supreme Court.[3]

Background

Gilberto Valle was born in Queens, New York, in 1984, and attended Archbishop Molloy High School.[4] He attended the University of Maryland, graduating in 2006 with a degree in psychology.[5]

Valle joined the New York City Police Department in 2006, and was assigned to the 26th Precinct in Morningside Heights, Manhattan. He married Kathleen Cooke Mangan, whom he had met on the dating website OKCupid, in 2010 in Spokane, Washington. They had a daughter in early 2012.[6]

He was fired from the NYPD following his arrest.[7]

Chats and arrest

On October 25, 2012, Valle was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping.[8] The arrest occurred after his wife reported to police that she had found in his Internet search engine history a series of chat room communications on Dark Fetish Net, a forum dedicated to sexual fetishes and fantasies involving torture, rape, murder and cannibalism. Valle had been chatting with another user about torturing and murdering his wife, as well as murdering and cannibalizing more than 100 other women.[9]

Trial

Valle faced a maximum of life in prison for the conspiracy charge, and a maximum of five years for accessing the federal National Crime Information Center database without authorization. Valle's wife testified against him during the trial.[6] Throughout the trial, Valle claimed that the chat room communications were mere fantasy, and that he had no intention of acting on them.[6] He was found guilty of all charges in March 2013.[7]

Judge Paul G. Gardephe of Federal District Court overturned Valle's conviction on the conspiracy charge in June 2014, saying the evidence supported his contention that he was engaged in only "fantasy role-play." Valle had at this point served 21 months in prison.[10] The lesser conviction regarding the database remained standing, but Valle was sentenced to time served and released.[7] The government appealed the dismissal of the conspiracy charge to the Second Circuit.[11]

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled on December 3, 2015, regarding the two questions on appeal:

The Government appeals from the district court's judgment of acquittal on the conspiracy count, and Valle separately appeals from the judgment of conviction on the CFAA count. Because we agree that there was insufficient evidence as to the existence of a genuine agreement to kidnap and of Valle's specific intent to commit a kidnapping, we affirm the district court's judgment of acquittal on the conspiracy count. Because we find that the district court's construction of the CFAA violates the rule of lenity, we reverse the judgment of conviction on the CFAA count.[12]

Harvard Law professor Noah Feldman wrote in an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune that there is a "high probability" of the appeal continuing to U.S. Supreme Court.[3]

Media

• A memoir, Raw Deal: The Untold Story of the NYPD's "Cannibal Cop", where the author raises the question of when a thought becomes a crime. Co-written with Brian Whitney and published by WildBlue Press.[13]
• A documentary film, Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop, chronicled Valle's arrest, trial, imprisonment, and release. Directed by Erin Lee Carr, the film debuted on HBO on May 11, 2015.[14]
• An episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit titled "Thought Criminal" was inspired by Valle's case.[15]
• An episode in 2018 of the Adult Swim show Soft Focus with Jena Friedman featured an interview with Valle and his participation in a The Dating Game-style contest.[16]

References

1. Weiser, Benjamin (July 1, 2014). "Officer's Conviction in Cannibalism Case Overturned". The New York Times. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
2. Engber, Daniel (July 2, 2014). "The Cannibal Cop Goes Free, but What About the Murderous Mechanic? One thought-crime conviction has been overturned. Three others have not". Slate.
3. Feldman, Noah (December 4, 2015). "Why Supreme Court could hear 'cannibal cop' case". The Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on December 30, 2015. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
4. Weiser, Benjamin (February 26, 2013). "At Trial, Officer's Friend Recalls Abduction Threat". The New York Times. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
5. Rosenwald, Michael S. (October 26, 2012). "Alleged cannibal cop is UMd grad". Washington Post. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
6. Gearty, Robert; Gregorian, Dareh (February 25, 2013). "'Cannibal Cop's' wife takes the stand as horrific details of former NYPD officer's twisted bondage fetish emerge in first day of trial". New York Daily News. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
7. "NY policeman Gilberto Valle acquitted in cannibal plot" bbc.com. 1 July 2014.
8. Goldstein, Joseph (October 26, 2014). "Officer Plotted to Abduct, Cook and Eat Women, Authorities Say". The New York Times. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
9. ""NYC 'cannibal cop' case man Gilberto Valle sentenced on lesser charge". bbc.com. 13 November 2014.
10. Weiser, Benjamin (April 16, 2015). "Gilberto Valle, Ex-New York Police Officer Talks About His Cannibalism Fantasies in Film". The New York Times.
11. "United States v. Gilberto Valle". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
12. "United States v. Gilberto Valle, No. 14‐2710‐cr and No. 14‐4396‐cr, (2015)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05.
13. Gilberto, Valle (2016). Raw Deal: The Untold Story Of NYPD's "Cannibal Cop". WildBlue Press.
14. Newman, Jason (May 5, 2015). "'Cannibal Cop' Doc Questions Line Between Fantasy and Murder". Rolling Stone.
15. Leotta, Allison (May 15, 2014). "SVU's 'Thought Criminal'". Huffington Post.
16. Britton, David (February 18, 2018). "Jena Friedman pulls no punches on 'Soft Focus'". The Daily Dot. Retrieved February 28, 2018.

External links

• United States v. Gilbert Valle initial criminal complaint
• Engber, Daniel (December 10, 2015). "An Exclusive Interview With the "Cannibal Cop": Exonerated of his alleged crimes, Gilberto Valle describes his experience in court, his time in prison, and his attempt to start a new life". Slate.