No Cocaine, No Strippers, Just Sweet Victory for John Stamos in Extortion Case

Two Michigan residents are found guilty of blackmailing the actor

By Josh Grossberg Jul 15, 2010 10:08 PMTags
John StamosAP Photo/John Flesher

Consider John Stamos' reputation officially unthreatened.

The erstwhile Uncle Jesse was on the winning side today as a jury convicted a Michigan couple of trying to  blackmail him with photos of the nice-guy actor with cocaine and strippers.

Jurors believed the actor, who said he didn't do drugs or cavort with strippers, and prosecutors, who said the purported photos never even existed, and convicted Allison Coss, 24, and Scott Sippola, 31, of conspiracy and using email to threaten a person's reputation.

Forget Full House, these two are headed to the big house. And that's fine by Stamos.

"I would like to thank the court, the FBI and the US Attorney's office for their swift and efficient dealings in connection with this case," he said in a statement.

The verdict came after about four hours of deliberations by the panel, which heard four days worth of testimony, including an account from Stamos himself.

"I am shocked and perplexed how individuals could fabricate so many false stories in an effort to defend a crime," said Stamos. "I agreed to be a witness for a federal criminal prosecution and endured countless false accusations about my behavior and appropriateness."

Specifically, Stamos dismissed insinuations by the defense attorney that he had attempted to seduce Coss when they first met at an Orlando nightclub in 2004. Among the accusations: that the ER hunk went on a cocaine binge with a pair of strippers and that he purportedly tried to have sex with Coss, then only 17, in a hot tub.

"The allegations made regarding an inappropriate relationship are completely untrue," Stamos added. "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."

Prosecutors say Coss and Sippola began emailing Stamos last year seeking $680,000 in exchange for not selling the purported photos.

A number of law enforcement officials, including the FBI agents who orchestrated a sting that nabbed the duo in December, testifed that there was no evidence that such photos ever existed.

"I'm grateful these two criminals have been found guilty and I plan to go home to be with my family and friends and prepare to get back to work," concluded Stamos, who attended today's hearing and sat in the front row.

With this behind him, Stamos can focus on his upcoming 10-episode arc on the new season of Glee.

(Originally published July 15, 2010 at 2:08 p.m. PT)

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