John Stamos Extorters Sentenced To Four Years

John Stamos

The man and woman who tried to extort John Stamos by threatening to sell some compromising photos were sentenced to four years in prison each.
The “Glee” actor was asked for the sum of $680,000 in exchange of the photos that, according to the ones trying to obtain the money were compromising for the actor’s public image and reputation. But, the photos never existed according to a federal prosecutor. However, the pair could have been given up to nine years in prison for convictions of conspiracy and interstate communications to extort money. Scott Edward Sippola, aged 31 and Allison Lenore Coss, aged 24 got a four years in prison sentence.

“I sought to exploit my knowledge of the personal weaknesses of a perfect stranger for my own undeserved financial gain,” Sippola admitted according to CNN. However, a statement from actor John Stamos was also read in court and it seems that the “Glee” star wanted his name and image to be cleaned. “The case was made by the fact that these defendants made threats to damage his [Stamos'] reputation in order to have him pay them,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Maarten Vermaat said.

The pictures that the pair used in order to extort the actor don’t really exist according to the statements, but the pair told the actor that if he didn’t give them the money, they would sell pictures of him using drugs to tabloid publications. Vermaat also mentioned that the pair sent more than 40 emails to the actor threatening him. FBI agents started investigations on the case and “eventually communicated by cellular telephone with the defendants pretending to be Mr. Stamos’ business manager.”

However, it seems that Stamos met Coss before, in 2004 during a vacation, and the two developed a friendship communicating by email, until the story came out. Allison Coss said in court that there were some photos of the actor using cocaine and he was interested in buying them. On the other hand, the actor said that nothing happened on the 2004 vacation when he met Coss and that is why he called the police in the first place, knowing that he did nothing wrong.

Scott Edward Sippola and Allison Lenore Coss were arrested in December 2009.11