MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A man who posted videos and photos of his ex-girlfriend online for revenge after she broke up with him was sentenced Friday to 30 days in jail.
Antonio Giansante Garcia, of Miami Beach, was arrested in February 2015 and charged with video voyeurism.
As part of a plea deal, Giansante Garcia will also serve five years of probation and donate $2,500 to the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative and Project Phoenix of Camillus House, a new facility intended to help victims of human trafficking.
"Revenge porn is a tool for a spurned former partner, spouse or lover to gain power and control over someone," State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. "It is a means of breaking the will and destroying the reputation and self-image of someone the criminal claims to have loved. Mr. Giansante's plan for dominance was spoiled by this victim's courage in coming forward to prosecute this crime."
According to an arrest report, Giansante Garcia created numerous Facebook and Instagram accounts and a website with nude photos and video of the victim. The images were taken when the woman was a minor through adulthood.
According to the woman, she had a sexual relationship with Giansante Garcia shortly after he coached her in soccer in Puerto Rico when she was 16 years old.
She said she moved to Miami Beach with Giansante Garcia in 2009 and broke up with him in 2012 because of his jealousy and possessiveness.
Detectives said some of the still images showed the victim performing sexual acts with Giansante Garcia. Other images pictured only the victim.
The victim told police that many of her co-workers and their husbands had received friend requests to the social media accounts and said she suffered panic attacks from the "tormenting conduct."
Police said Giansante Garcia admitted to keeping some of the victim's nude photos on a storage device. They said he also admitted to posting some of the photos online but didn't specify which ones.
Fernandez Rundle and a group of victim advocates convinced the Florida Legislature last year to enact legislation, making "revenge porn" a crime.
The law took effect last Oct. 1 and is punishable by up to a year in jail.
Repeat offenses will be considered a felony, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.