US man denied bail in cannibalism case
2013-01-08 12:27
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New York - A US man was denied bail on Monday in a cannibalism case after a
prosecutor said the 22-year-old auto mechanic confessed to the FBI that a plot
to kidnap, rape and kill a woman that he planned to carry out with a New York
City police officer was more than an internet fantasy.
Michael Vanhise was ordered detained by US
Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman three days after he was arrested on charges that
he planned a gruesome plot with Officer Gilberto Valle.
Valle, 28, is set for trial in two weeks
in Manhattan federal court on charges that he planned to abduct, rape, murder
and eat women.
No women were injured in either case and Vanhise's attorney said her client
even tried to warn authorities about others he feared might actually commit the
acts they discussed in a deviant online fantasy world.
Pitman seemed reluctant to deprive Vanhise
of bail until assistant US attorney Randall Jackson insisted Vanhise had
confessed to FBI agents on Friday that he meant to carry out the plot with
Valle even though he had said it was fantasy when he was speaking with the FBI
several times a week since October.
Potential victims
The prosecutor also said Vanhise had sent
photographs of his two nieces, ages 7 and 9, as well as a 3-year-old
step-daughter, to others who were communicating with him on the internet about
potential victims. And he said Vanhise had conducted surveillance with others
of some targets.
Jackson said Vanhise had sent a
photograph of the 7-year-old to others online and suggested that his niece
"could be kidnapped, could be eaten."
"He goes far beyond any
fantasy," Jackson said, noting that he haggled with Valle to try to lower
the $5 000 fee for the kidnapping of a Manhattan woman.
Pitman then agreed the government had
shown Vanhise was a danger to the community, citing "abhorrent,
disturbing, dark conduct".
Still, he gave a nod to the defence arguments
of when he said: "I appreciate that the defence here is that it was a
fantasy world."
Vanhise's attorney, Alice Fontier, argued
that Vanhise "thought he was doing something good" when he co-operated
fully with the FBI since October, when the FBI seized two computers along with
video games from his home.
Warnings
She said he created a new screen name and
approached others online, saying what agents asked him to say on websites where
"their conversations are meant to be graphic, meant to be realistic".
Fontier also called "totally
false" the prosecutor's claim that Vanhise had admitted to the FBI that he
is sexually aroused by children and that he was sexually aroused by his own
step-daughter.
The lawyer said Vanhise had gone to the
police department on at least four occasions over the last two years to
complain that others on the fantasy web site might be interested in carrying
out some fantasies but the police had brushed him off.
Prosecutors said there's no police record of Vanhise reporting others from
the fantasy web sites.
Fontier said witnesses who accompanied
her client to police would testify at his trial. She also cited the support of
Vanhise's wife, who nodded as the lawyer said his wife is "absolutely
supportive" and wants her husband back in her life.
Bizarre
Fontier said she believe the case against
her client had proceeded in a "slightly bizarre manner" with the FBI
first working with Vanhise before charging him with crimes that carry a maximum
of life in prison and a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison.
Fontier said she agreed with Valle's
lawyer, who on Friday said she believed Vanhise's arrest was meant to prevent
him from testifying in support of Valle at his trial.
"He's a pawn in that," Fontier
said, promising to appeal the bail ruling.
Valle maintains his innocence.
- AP
