text: Victims of a man who operated a 'revenge porn' website and then charged victims to remove nude images and their personal information spoke out after the man was sentenced on Friday. Kevin Bollaert, 28, was sentenced to 18 years in state prison after he was convicted in February of 21 counts of identity theft and six counts of extortion in San Diego Superior Court for running a pair of websites that capitalized on the internet as a forum for public shaming. A group of Bollaert's victims were flown in from around the country to be involved in the prosecution and some have now said that they no longer feel ashamed for sending nude pictures. Victims revealed that they had received a slew of hurtful comments after their nudes were posted and one woman even said she nearly killed herself. Scroll down for video . Shameful: In a first-of-its-kind ruling, Bollaert was sentenced t 18 years for running a 'revenge porn' site, publishing nude and embarassing photos of women sent in anonymously by people wanting to hurt them . Standing up: Three victims, Emily (left), Natlie Coco (center) and Megan Borash (right) spoke out on how having their pictures and information posted on the website affected them . Jilted lovers and hackers could anonymously post nude photos of people without their consent, along with personal information about them, at a website Bollaert created and moderated, called ugotposted.com. More than 10,000 images, mainly of women, were posted between December 2012 and September 2013. People who sought to have the explicit images taken down were directed to changemyreputation.com and charged $250 to $350 to remove the racy content. Victims included teachers, wives and professionals. Nicole Coco was one of the victims who testified in court. She told NBC that after receiving vulgar messages from strangers she went to the police but they were not much help. 'I got the photos removed once. The second time they were like, 'We'll try and try again.' They thought it was my fault, and it was a lot of victim shaming,' said Coco, who had previously tried to commit suicide because of the situation. She said that a California Department of Justice official who contacted her with regards to criminal charges against Bollaert was the first time she was told and felt that having the pictures posted was not her fault. Crying in court: Kevin Bollaert, 28, broke down in tears at his sentencing hearing in San Diego on Friday. He was facing a maximum of 20 years but was given 18, with the judge saying the sentence accurately reflected the amount of victims he hurt . Shaming: Victim Natalie Coco said she had been through a lot of victim shaming before being contacted by a California Department of Justice official who had reached out in regards to criminal charges against Bollaert . 'It was amazing because I blamed myself for a long time before that,' she said. Another victim of Bollaert's website, Megan Borash, said that when the guilty verdict came in she knew was she did 'was not wrong' and that she was 'not ashamed of what' she did. Borash said that the sentencing 'means a lot'. 'Huge weight off my shoulder. I'm out here talking to you, gave you my information. Ask me yesterday, you wouldn't have gotten it. It's time for me to take my life back and start living.' The landmark case was the first time a person had been tried for a running revenge porn ring in the United States. The compromising photos cost people jobs, damaged relationships and led to one attempted suicide. Bollaert earned about $900 a month in website ad revenue and collected about $30,000 from victims. Relief: Victim Megan Borash said that after the guilty verdict came in she realized that what she did was not wrong and that she was 'not ashamed of what' she did . Trauma: One victim, who identified herself as Emily, said that she had received 'crude comments' about her body after pictures of her were posted on the site . Bollaert's lawyer had claimed at trial that the business was gross and offensive, but he didn't break the law by allowing others to post the explicit material. 'It's gross, it's offensive, but it's not illegal,' Emily Rose-Weber said. But the prosecution said Bollaert terrorized women and enjoyed doing it. Not only would he the photos, but the names, addresses and social media details of the people in them. Many victims were inundated with harassing messages from strangers. Investigators found that Bollaert received thousands of distressed emails from victims, one who said she was 'scared for my life' and another who said she'd been 'getting nonstop harassing messages.' The criminal complaint named more than two dozen people as victims, one of whom claimed she was thrown out of her home after her family found out nude photos had been posted of her. 'It ruined my life and I'm still going through it,' she testified. 'I lost my family. They think that I brought shame on them. My reputation is ruined.' Some of the women read victim impact statements in court, according to NBC San Diego. Ruined: In spite of the thousands of emails he got begging to have photos taken down, Bollaert told investigators it was his life that had been ruined by the site . One victim, who did not want to be named, said: 'It's just broken me on a level that's not describable. The only thing I have left is shame and anger.' Mashable reported that Bollaert, in an interview with agents from the California Department of Justice's eCrime Unit, explained the site was 'just, like, ruining my life.' 'Yeah, I realize like this is not a good situation,' Bollaert said according to the complaint. 'I feel bad about the whole thing and like I just don't want to do it anymore.' 'I mean I know a lot of people are getting screwed over like on the site. Like their lives are getting ruined,' he said. Criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Tony Solare told NBC that 'revenge porn' cases are hard to prosecute. 'It's hard to prove someone did the act if they did it through a computer. Unless you can prove someone did it with that IP address they can say I didn't do this. I can sit here and think of a million ways people can commit this crime without getting caught,' he said. Terrorized: Some of the victims appeared in court, anonymously, to read victim impact statements. Many said their lives had been irrevocably ruined by Bollaert and his site . Convicted: Kevin Bollaert, 28, was facing 20 years after being found guilty of extortion and identity theft for running a despicable scheme for victims to pay to have their images removed from his revenge porn site . He added: 'As far as the volume of [cyber-exploitation crimes] I'm sure [investigators] are woefully understaffed as far as what's out there.' Solare also said that people who think they're victims of cyber exploitation should take a series of important steps. He said: 'If you have a situation like that, you want to sit down and write a detailed account of what occurred, who did it, why you think they did it, what information you can have to specifically tie the bad act to the person you think did it and how you found out about it. 'Because the more information someone has, the more law enforcement has, the more they have to look into it. 'The other thing to do is to not delay in reporting something like this because any delay in reporting of any crime creates any problem for prosecution,' Bollaert is expected to serve at least half his prison sentence and must pay $10,000 in restitution. The trial of Hunter Moore, called 'the most hated man on the Internet' for running isanyoneup.com, is yet to go before court.
target: Kevin Bollaert was found guilty of 27 counts of identity theft and extortion .
  He operated ugotposted.com, where anonymous users posted nudes without the subject's consent .
  He then earned tens of thousands from running changemyreputation.com, where victims would pay fees of $300 to $350 to have their photos removed .
  Also published their names, addresses and social media details .
  Victims spoke out and said they received a slew of 'crude comments' on social media but no longer feel ashamed for sending nude pictures .
  Bollaert was sentenced to 18 years Friday, which Judge said reflected amount of victims .