Fake Cop Busted for Gay Sex Blackmail

A U.K. man who posed as a police officer to blackmail gay men cruising for sex was sentenced last week to 3-1/2 years in prison.

Prosecutors argued that Lee Creamer, 26, targeted men in the known cruising spot of Portsdown Hill in Hampshire, on the south coast of England, according to Portsmouth Today.

According to the prosecution, "On each occasion the defendant would approach the single men at the site and engage them in conversation. The victim would be encouraged to respond to the approach, at which point the defendant would tell the victim that he was a police officer and that the victim had committed a public protection offence and that he would be arrested unless he paid the defendant an on-the-spot fine.'"

Creamer was apprehended after police responded to a complaint from a man walking his dog who was approached by Creamer.

Although Creamer's attorney argued that a cocaine habit and not homophobia motivated his client, the judge cited the fact that Creamer took advantage of victims because of their sexual orientation.

"The people you were targeting undoubtedly would have been in that frame of mind where they weren't going to think straight," Judge Peter Henry told Creamer, according to Portsmouth Today. "You were relying on the fact that they were going to panic and pay the money."