A U.S. District Judge sentenced the former chief of police of a New York federal veterans hospital to 10 years of imprisonment due to his involvement in the conspiracy to torture, rape, and murder women. The alleged intentions of the convicted officer was identified to have stemmed from Internet fetish forums he reportedly frequently visited.

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Richard Meltz, who worked as a police chief at a Massachusetts veteran affairs medical center, pleaded guilty to the charges connecting him with two conspiracies to abduct, torture, and kill women. He was charged with two other men who he allegedly established contact via online message boards. These websites reportedly encourage the sharing of brutal sexual fetishes.

"I conclude that Mr. Meltz presents a danger to the community," U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe said. "There could have been no question in his mind that these kidnapping plots were real."

The situation of the sentenced 66-year-old ex-cop is considered as one of the numerous cases in New York in which no person was actually abducted or hurt, but the possibility of the fantasy plots to turn into reality gradually becomes a tangible ploy.

Prior to reading the sentence, Peter Brill, the lawyer of the accused, tried to convince the judge to grant his client a lenient punishment. In addition, the attorney pointed out that Meltz needed mental counseling to treat his condition. Brill claimed that a prison sentence will not provide his client the help he badly needed.

"I don't mean to make this sound silly but this was a hobby of Mr. Meltz's for many, many, many years," Brill said in an attempt to explain his client's tendency to indulge in violent fantasizes. "And then, of course, the Internet gets invented," he added.

One of the targeted "victims" of the three conspiring men was an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation agent. Investigators have verified that the FBI agent was the topic of the many email exchanges and phone calls among the men.

Court records show that Meltz was in the police and law enforcement industry for roughly 30 years prior to his arrest in 2013. He was taken into police custody after FBI agents began arresting suspected individuals who might be connected with Gilberto Valle, an ex-police officer charged with killing women then eating their body parts to satisfy his cannibalism fetish.   

The two men who conspired with Meltz were identified as Michael Van Hise and Christopher Asch. Both were convicted by a federal jury in March. 

TagsRichard Meltz, brutal sexual fantasy, fetish, cannibalism