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Adrees Latif / Reuters Dan Sandler, dressed as the Muppet character Elmo, is handcuffed and detained by police after using anti-Semitic language in Times Square, New York, Sept. 18, 2012.

The man whose anti-Semitic rants while wearing an Elmo costume in Times Square earned him Internet infamy was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $2 million on Wednesday for attempting to extort the Girl Scouts of America.

Prosecutors say Dan Sandler, 49, told Girl Scouts staff that he would falsely accuse the organization of pimping out young girls at their camps for sex with men. Sandler pleaded guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence.

But Sandler defended his actions, telling a Manhattan judge they were “more of a protest” against what he called “a very corrupt organization because of their relationship to the pharmaceutical industry.” Sandler’s attorney reportedly rolled her eyes and shrugged when asked by reporters what her client was talking about, the New York Daily News reports.

Sandler was arrested on grand larceny, aggravated harassment and stalking charges in San Francisco last May while living in a car.

[Daily News]