Navigate to News section

Anti-Semitic Elmo Goes to Jail

Dan Sandler sentenced to a year in prison for trying to extort the Girl Scouts

by
Stephanie Butnick
October 09, 2013
Dan Sandler.(Jim Wilson/The New York Times)
Dan Sandler.(Jim Wilson/The New York Times)

Dan Sandler, better known as his plush alter-ego anti-Semitic Elmo, took a break from verbally harassing New York City residents and tourists to attempt to extort $2 million from the Girl Scouts, for whom he had previously worked as a temp. The Girl Scouts; Elmo; is nothing sacred?

Anyway, Sandler is apparently as bad at extortion as he is at low-key panhandling—today the Manhattan Criminal Court sentenced him to one year in prison, the New York Times reports.

Sandler, naturally, was his usual class act in court:

Just before sentencing, the man, Dan Sandler, who has also gone by the name Adam Sandler, told Judge Robert Stolz that he was not remorseful. “This is not the case of someone in the back room of the office trying to embezzle money — this is more of a protest, like laying down in the intersection,” Mr. Sandler said. He added, “I am in no way sorry to the Girl Scouts organization, because I think they are a corrupt organization.”

Bye bye, Elmo.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.