'Cannibal cop' who faced life in jail for plot to kidnap, torture and EAT women walks free as judge rules plan was likely 'fantasy'

Gilberto Valle smiled at his family and hugged his lawyers today. His bail was set at $100,000 and home detention was ordered

Judge Paul Gardephe ruled late on Monday that there was insufficient evidence to support the conviction of Gilberto Valle

Valle was convicted in March 2013 and held at Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan

Valle, who could have faced life in prison, was acquitted of kidnapping conspiracy charges, the most serious count he faced

Valle has been in jailed since his arrest in 2012

His mother told MailOnline that she is 'overwhelmed with joy'



An ex-NYPD officer dubbed 'cannibal cop' walked free from court today after a federal judge overturned his conviction for a plot to kidnap, kill and eat young women.

Judge Paul Gardephe ruled late on Monday that there was insufficient evidence to support the conviction of Gilberto Valle.



Valle, who could have faced life in prison, was acquitted of kidnapping conspiracy charges, the most serious count he faced. The ex-cop, who was fired by the NYPD, smiled at his family and hugged his lawyers during a court appearance today.

He said: 'I want to take this opportunity to apologize to everyone who has been hurt, shocked or offended by my infantile actions.



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GIlberto Valle, center, smiles as he leaves Manhattan federal court in New York today. A federal judge overturned the conviction of the former New York City police officer accused of plotting to kidnap, kill and eat young women

'I want to thank my family. From day one, their support never wavered. I needed that more than anyone will ever know in this impossible situation.'



His bail was set at $100,000 and home detention was ordered. Under the terms of his release, he has to wear an electronic ankle bracelet and is not allowed to use the Internet.

Speaking to MailOnline, Valle's mother, Elizabeth said, 'I'm so happy and overwhelmed with joy. My boy is finally home.'

She said the family planned a restful week in which they would take time to enjoy each other's company. She added, 'I want to cater to his every need.'



His lawyer Julia Gatto told the New York Post that Valle’s mom 'is very anxious to cook a meal for him, to sit at the table with him, to hug him'.

He was convicted in March 2013 and had not yet been sentenced. The former cop was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan where he had served 21 months.

A jury concluded he wasn't just fantasizing when he conversed online with others he had never met about killing and cooking his wife and others in a cannibalism plot.

'The evidentiary record is such that it is more likely than not the case that all of Valle's Internet communications about kidnapping are fantasy role-play,' Gardephe said in his 118-page opinion.

Valle has been in jailed since his arrest in 2012.

Prosecutors had argued Valle took steps to carry out his plot, including looking up potential targets on a restricted law enforcement database; searching the Internet for how to knock someone out with chloroform and where to get torture devices and other tools.

Valle, center, leaves Manhattan federal court in New York. A judge overturned the conviction of the former New York City police officer accused of plotting to kidnap, kill and eat young women

Gardephe upheld Valle's conviction on a charge of illegally gaining access to the law enforcement database, which carried a maximum sentence of one year. Valle was fired after his conviction.

In one of the numerous online conversations shown to the jury during the trial, Valle told a man he met in a fetish chat room: 'I want her to experience being cooked alive. She'll be trussed up like a turkey. ... She'll be terrified, screaming and crying.'

In another exchange, Valle suggested a woman he knew would be easy prey because she lived alone.



The men discussed cooking her, basted in olive oil, over an open fire and using her severed head as a centerpiece for a sit-down meal.

Online friend: Bolinger befriended New York police officer Gilberto Valle in an online chatroom. Valle was later accused of plotting to kidnap, kill and eat women and although he was convicted, this verdict was later overturned by a federal judge

Valle's own wife, Kathleen Mangan, right, turned him in to police when she found a drove of his writings about cannibalism. She divorced him last July

Valle defense lawyer Robert Baum had said that the conviction set 'a dangerous precedent'.

The larger principle at stake in the trial was that 'people can be prosecuted for their thoughts,' he said.

Valle's defense attorneys had vowed to appeal the verdict and said they would appeal to Gardephe to throw out the verdict.

Valle, a patrolman for the NYPD, was arrested in October 2012 after his wife, Kathleen Mangan, found disturbing pictures on his computer that he had downloaded from the site DarkFetishNet.com.

The FBI found a list of 100 women he said he planned to kill, cook and eat.



They also found a transcript of an online chat in which he said he planned to take his 'girlfriend' Kathleen to Pakistan, where he and another man would murder her and cannibalize her body.



Valle maintains that his extensive writings were nothing more than fantasy - never meant to be acted on or carried out.

