Here’s the lesson, boys and girls: if you’re a fine-looking dude who wants to offer some jailbait some lovely cunnilingus before heading off to the Jacuzzi to do blow off some stripper’s tittays, you can totally get away with all of it! Woohoo, John Stamos is still a rock star, bitches! The extortion case against a man and a woman accused of trying to blackmail John Stamos for $680,000 were found guilty on Thursday, July 15. Stamos even testified about the circumstances (his version) surrounding the incident in which he met Allison Coss, who was 17 years old when she met Stamos in Miami shortly after his split from Rebecca Romijn. Coss and her lawyer/co-conspirator Scott Sippola, were found guilty and could do up to nine years in jail:
A Michigan man and woman were convicted Thursday of trying to extort $680,000 from “Full House” actor John Stamos by threatening to sell compromising photos that prosecutors say didn’t even exist.
Scott Edward Sippola, 31, and Allison Lenore Coss, 24, could face up to nine years in prison for convictions of conspiracy and interstate communications to extort money, said assistant U.S. Attorney Maarten Vermaat. Sentencing is set for October 8.
“The case was made by the fact that these defendants made threats to damage his [Stamos’] reputation in order to have him pay them,” Vermaat said after the verdict in Marquette, Michigan. Jurors deliberated for about five hours Thursday.
According to CNN affiliate WLUC, prosecutors said that Coss and Sippola demanded $680,000 from the television actor or they would sell embarrassing pictures to tabloid publications of Stamos allegedly using drugs.
Vermaat said the defendants sent about 40 e-mails to Stamos threatening to sell the photos. FBI agents got involved and started monitoring Stamos’ e-mail account and “eventually communicated by cellular telephone with the defendants pretending to be Mr. Stamos’ business manager.” Sippola and Coss were arrested in December 2009 at an airport, a pre-arranged drop off spot for the money.
Defense attorney Sarah Henderson alleged at trial that Stamos had a fling with Coss when she was a 17-year-old vacationing on spring break in 2004. Prosecutors said Stamos met Coss during a trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. They developed a friendship and the two communicated by e-mail occasionally until November 2009, when the actor turned the phohtos matter over to the FBI.
According to WLUC, Coss testified there were several photos depicting Stamos using cocaine. She claimed the actor seemed interested in buying the photos. The actor testified that nothing inappropriate happened at a 2004 spring-break party and, accordingly, he didn’t believe compromising photos existed. Stamos said Thursday he wants to get back to work.
“I would like to thank the court, the FBI and the U.S .Attorney’s office for their swift and efficient dealings in connection with this case,” Stamos said in a statement Thursday afternoon. I am shocked and perplexed how individuals could fabricate so many false stories in an effort to defend a crime. I agreed to be a witness for a federal criminal prosecution and endured countless false accusations about my behavior and appropriateness. The allegations made regarding an inappropriate relationship are completely untrue. These slanderous allegations to smear my reputation were part of their defense to redirect attention away from the federal crime of extortion. There was no hot tub, no drugs, no nudity and nothing sexual in nature involved in my friendship with this woman. They lied about everything from a pregnancy to compromising photos.”
A call by CNN to defense attorney Sarah Henderson was not immediately returned.
[From CNN]
What do you want to bet that Stamos gets some work out of this? A nice character arc on one of the CSIs, maybe, or even something more high-brow, like Weeds or Breaking Bad? Because you know what? This whole thing actually helped his reputation. I always thought he was very pretty, but now he seems dangerous and naughty, even if the story about offering cunnilingus and the Jacuzzi, with the strippers and the tittays wasn’t true. Stamos’ virility and bad-boy appeal has given him an extra kick. Mama like.
Header: Stamos on Novemeber 13, 2008. Credit: WENN.
When John Stamos is on Glee next year, it will now seem extra creepy when he interacts with the kids.
I officially no longer like his ass. Thats just disgusting. What these two idiots should have done was go to a tabloid if they wanted money. I imagine “Uncle Jesse” doing blow and offering to go down on a minor would make a great headline for the National Enquirer. If they had like Rob Lowe scandal evidence (videotape or photos) then they should have gone to the tabs. Now they are in jail and his slimy ass is walking free.
Oh and if you always thought he was pretty Kaiser he did a Lifetime movie where he was beating his wife and murdering kids and women. It was called Fatal Vows: The Alexandra O’Hara Story. He was pretty scary and dangerous in that. Played that role too well.
Don’t mess with Uncle Jesse.
I still like him…
16 is street legal in the UK and in most of Europe so this story gets a big shrug from me. Still, after all the Mel Gibson “you WILL blow me!” tapes, it’s refreshing to hear about a guy willing to give as well as receive…
Such a good looking dude and man, can he wear a suit!
I was sketched out for a little while when the preliminary details of this came out. But then I saw some astute comments that pointed out that this chick was in the bar and he could’ve, and would’ve assumed she was older…or she could have told him that herself.
If he thought she was of age, then anything sexual he suggested or they actually did is not in the arena of creepy.
If he was hanging out at the local elementary school, THAT would be creepy.
But meeting a chick in a bar and wanting to have sex with her seems pretty damn normal.
Why do so many want him to be some kind of creepo weirdo pedophile?
Good for him! It may have happened but they couldn’t prove it so he’s considered innocent. IMHO, what really happened is probably somewhere in between the two stories but so what.
I still like him and extortion is still against the law and I’m glad to see the dirtbags get what they deserved.
Aw @pooky(?) You make a valid point. It is refreshing that John wanted to GIVE some pleasure. That was touching. Sweet. Considering most men belly ache about it.
“or she could have told him that herself.”
actually, she DID tell him that. reports are that she told him she was a college student on spring break.
A guy who actually wants to perform oral sex on a woman?
@ at Angie : “she did tell him that”
Obviously she is a liar, and an opportunist. Why should anyone believe that she told Stamos her actual age?
I remember sneaking into bars and night clubs when I was 17-and the last thing you did was let ANYONE know you were NOT of legal age….so no, I don’t buy it.
I love John Stamos..how shitty that he got blackmailed–How can anyone think Stamos is creepy when he didn’t know how old she was, and there was NO proof of ANY of the allegations.
If we judged what we watched by the celebs private lives we’d have to turn off almost all tv, movies and radio.
@pooky, hah! love the way you think!
Would he have gone to the FBI if something had actually happened? I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt.
margo, not sure you read my post right…I can’t tell if your post is agreeing with me or “correcting” me…
…but what I was saying is that she did lie to him about her age.
I was repeating a story I heard that, not only was she in a place where you had to be 18 or older so he would naturally assume she was at least 18, she also told him she was in college.
sorry for any confusion.
So this woman not only broke the law by sneaking into a bar, which could have lost their liquor license, because she was underage, but she was wronged in some of these poster’s minds because of her age, so what does she do does she go to the cops to report this?
Nope she tries to blackmail some one which is also against the law, so far we knows she’s a liar, she breaks the law, and she wants money that she didn’t even earn.
I find it disturbing that some of you are missing the point of this woman’s character, and the fact that at 17 she is running around in bars and drinking with older people
Actually if it was in Florida the age of majority (drinking legally) is 21.
Ok Angie..sorry, I did misread your post!
Thanks for clarifying 🙂
I do love me some Stamos…smokin!!
She was in a bar said she was in college and on spring break. All of these make it sound as if she’s 21. At least. She was also there with an older guy (he’s 31 now-so mid 20s then).
I’m excited for his Glee arc!!!
No body—rich or poor, middle class or whatever—wants to have to go to the FBI because guess what–you have to tell them EVERYTHING that went down in your private life that led to this extortion. The documents are on Smoking Gun.
I’m glad justice was served. I think John Stamos is smoking hot.
LMAO @ Pooky!
That’s awesome.
And i agree, everything she did would have led him to believe (if anything happened) that she was over 21 or at least 21. Why would she wait so long to inform anyone if anything inappropriate did happen? Its amazing what happens when you tell someone “No.” Maybe she should have tried that.
They go to jail, yet Lindsay roams free.
@denise, not for much longer. she turns herself in on Monday, or she gets arrested.
So Mel Gibson won’t go to jail for threats/menacing/battery, but these two amateurs could get up to 9 years? Where’s the justice?
@ Locagirl “Would he have gone to the FBI if something had actually happened?.” The statute of limitation has ended even if hey had more evidence. Plus, the FBI wouldn’t prosecute him it is up to the state of Florida. His lawyers had to have made him aware of that fact and anything he testified to on the stand wouldn’t result in him being prosecuted under Florida – unless he testified he had killed someone.
It is obvious they wanted money and not justice. I’m sure the girl knew what she was doing and saw an opportunity to cash in. If she really felt like he need to pay for what he did, she would have gone to the cops. But it would diminish the value of the pictures and she may have been ordered not to release them.
It is so stupid they didn’t just go to the tabloids. I didn’t realize the co-conspirator was also her attorney, you would think they would have had a good idea about the risks. Selling them to the tabloids would have been perfectly legal. Maybe they thought he would pay more but if they are worth over $600,000 to him, they would have been well compensated. Now what they ended up with $0, jail time and he will become disbarred, throwing away a degree that he paid quite a bit for financially as well as lots of time and energy. Ending his chance for a successful career.
They also damaged reputations, the whole country now thinks they are liars and opportunists. They have come off so bad that they made him come off as a victim despite his bad behavior triggered this!
Snarf- In Florida you have reached the age of majority at 18. The age of majority and their statutory rape laws are set by the state, the drinking age is set by the federal government so they are uniform across the country.
If you are curious the age of majority/legal adulthood is 18, in every state but four.
-Alabama and Nebraska, 19
-District of Columbia and Mississippi, 21
J. Ferber: He will go to jail for this. What would make you think differently?
Pedophiles are people who are sexually attracted to children. Children before puberty. Children with no secondary sex characteristics. Innocent, non-sexual beings. Pedophilia is a disease of the mind. An illness. A perversion. In my opinion, it should be punishable by death.
Being attracted to a 17 year old girl is NOT pedophilia. Having sex with her may be illegal, depending on the circumstances. Most men are attracted to very young women. It is biology. It is normal. It is not pedophilia.
I thought it was pretty obvious he had been there done that?
Seriously, get pics of the Dalai Lama snorting coke off a strippers back and you’ll have something. Amatuers – obviously never extorted anyone before!
I agree with locagirl; why would he go to the FBI to report the underage chick he offered to perform oral on? Why would he admit to that?
He wouldn’t, because it doesn’t make any sense.
She was in a bar, so she certainly gave the story that she was a college student. I don’t buy this admitting to being underage bullshit. My ass certainly never admitted to being underage when I would hit the clubs as a young woman.
If things had gone down like she said, he would not have gone to the police; he would have paid her as quickly and quietly as possible.