Elmo Impersonator Gets 1 Year In Girl Scouts Extortion Plot
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A one-time Times Square Elmo impersonator was sentenced to a year in prison Wednesday in a bizarre extortion plot, according to published reports.
Dan Sandler, 50, was sentenced in Manhattan Supreme Court. An order of protection prohibiting Sandler from contact with the Girl Scouts was also issued.
Sandler pleaded guilty last month in Manhattan Supreme Court to grand larceny and misdemeanor stalking for plotting to extort the Girl Scouts of America.
In speaking before the sentence was handed down, he said he accepted that he had committed a crime, but was "not in any way sorry to the Girl Scouts organization," which he called "very corrupt" and accused of promoting off-label product marketing, the newspaper reported.
The move was part of a plea deal that calls for an order of protection of unspecified terms against him, along with one year in jail on each count that will run concurrent.
Sandler was charged with trying to extort $2 million from the Girl Scouts for allegedly threatening to go public with false claims that the organization arranged sexual encounters between adult men and underage girls at a scout camp, according to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.
Last year, Sandler was convicted for grabbing little girls and screaming anti-Semitic rants in Times Square while dressed as Elmo, causing a scene that blocked traffic.
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