- The Washington Times - Thursday, October 10, 2013

An Elmo street performer in New York’s Times Square, who was once arrested for shouting anti-Semitic rants, was sent to jail for a year on Wednesday for trying to extort $2 million from the Girl Scouts of the USA.

Dan Sandler, once a temporary worker for the Girl Scouts, was sentenced after pleading guilty to charges that he threatened the organization to go public with false information about arranged sex between men and young girls at a scout camp, Reuters reported.

Sandler claimed his attempt to extort the Girl Scouts was just a “protest” against the organization’s ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

“I am not in any way sorry to the Girl Scouts organization because I believe they are a very corrupt organization because of their relationship to the pharmaceutical industry,” Sandler explained, according to the New York Daily News.

Sandler pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny and stalking after the judge agreed to give him a year at Rikers Island, the Daily News said.

Sandler was also arrested in April 2013 when he dressed up as a fake Cookie Monster and shoved a 2-year-old child whose mother failed to tip him after taking a photo, Reuters reported.


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City officials have been pushing to regulate street performers who dress up as Sesame Street, Disney and other characters while panhandling. No such regulations currently exist.

• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.

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