Lawyer: New York 'Cannibal' Cop Just Has Filthy Mind

A New York police officer accused of plotting cannibalism had no intention of actually eating his victims -- it was all in his mind, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Gilberto Valle, a promising six-year veteran of the New York Police Department, may have sounded scary during extensive online chats with other men about kidnapping and eating up to 100 women, but he was never dangerous, Julia Gatto said in Manhattan federal court.

"His dirty thoughts are different and certainly more depraved," the attorney acknowledged, in pleading for 28-year-old Valle to be freed on bail. But "the only thing that happened here are men talking about fantasies."

Gatto described what she said was a "very vibrant" online "subculture" where men chat anonymously about extreme sexual fantasies, including "genital mutilation, decapitation, cannibalism."

"These kinds of conversations are happening every hour of every day. Just one website I visited with my paralegal has 38,000 members," she said. But "it's all role play."

Judge Paul Gardephe rejected the argument, ordering Valle to remain behind bars ahead of his trial, which will start January 22.

"The defendant's activities went far beyond Internet chat," he said. "The defendant had detailed discussions about the kidnap, torture and murder of a number of women."

Valle, who pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of conspiracy to kidnap and illegally accessing the police criminal database, spoke frequently with his lawyer during the hearing, apparently noting disagreements with what prosecutors were saying.

Although several members of his stunned-looking family sat in the court, his wife has left him and taken their young daughter, the judge said.

No women were harmed as a result of the lurid online chats. However, the intent was there, according to prosecutors.

One of those chats, the federal prosecutor noted, referred to eating a woman on this Thursday's Thanksgiving, the day when Americans traditionally sit down to enormous family meals -- typically with turkey as the main dish.

Prosecutor Hadassa Waxman pointed out that Valle's research included files on women that he shared with his online correspondents, giving details ranging from estimated bra size to the college they'd attended.

"These are real women, these are real names, these are real dates of birth," Waxman said. "There's a lot of reality here."

The judge said he could not release Valle on bail, despite a favorable preliminary psychological report, describing his behavior as "depraved, bizarre, aberrational and, as of now, entirely unexplained -- particularly for someone who is a police officer."

Valle, a University of Maryland graduate who was aiming for promotion to sergeant, is being kept in solitary confinement in Manhattan's Metropolitan Correctional Center's Special Housing Unit, or SHU.

The MCC's Special Housing Unit, referred to as the SHU, pronounced like "shoe," is notoriously tough and has been used to incarcerate high-profile defendants including recently the legendary Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Because he is a police officer, Valle is kept there for his own protection from other inmates.