In 2012, NYPD officer Gilberto Valle's wife made a horrifying discovery: thousands of online chats where her husband discussed kidnapping, torturing, cooking, and eating women...including her.

Valle was a member of Dark Fetish Net, a website for extreme sexual fantasies, where he shared detailed plans about cannibalizing real people he knew.

The FBI arrested Valle and charged him with conspiracy to commit kidnapping. The evidence was disturbing: graphic conversations about cooking women alive, over 100 unauthorized police database searches on potential victims, Google searches for "how to make chloroform," and real-world meetings with his targets.

 But here's the twist: Valle never kidnapped anyone. Never attempted to. Never took any concrete steps beyond online conversations and Google searches. Valle claimed it was all fantasy role-play. Prosecutors argued it was a genuine conspiracy. After a twelve-day trial featuring gruesome evidence and disturbing testimony, the jury convicted him. Valle faced life in federal prison...

This case exploded into a national debate about thoughtcrime, free speech, and the limits of conspiracy law. Can you be imprisoned for disturbing fantasies? Where's the line between fantasy and criminal intent? Should online role-play be prosecutable as conspiracy?

Join Robin as she breaks it down. 
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Keywords: Gilberto Valle, Cannibal Cop, NYPD, conspiracy to kidnap, Dark Fetish Net, true crime podcast, criminal conspiracy, First Amendment, free speech, constitutional law, federal crime, wrongful conviction, jury verdict, acquittal, Judge Paul Gardephe, thoughtcrime, police corruption, database abuse, New York crime, federal prison, legal podcast, court case analysis, civil liberties, true crime 2024, criminal justice, sexual fetish, cannibalism, vorarephilia, internet crime, cyber crime, FBI investigation, federal trial, appeals court, Second Circuit, true threats, protected speech, actus reus, overt act, criminal intent, fantasy defense

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