The cannibal cop was arrested in 2012 for plotting to not only murder, but also cook and eat women.

He was released this week after a judge dismissed the case. Officer Gilberto Valle, 40 met his co-conspirators on an online fetish website.

They often talked about committing sexual acts against women and then killing them and eating their remains.

Valle used photos of his wife, colleagues and friends to help make the fantasy more real and said that he hoped to commit the acts against the women in the photos and other women that he knew.

Valle was convicted of the crime in March 2013 and had been serving time in prison ever since. He was released on Tuesday after a judge decided that the men had no plans of going through with the plot but were only fantasizing instead.

“The highly unusual facts of this reflect the Internet age in which we live,” Judge Gardephe wrote in his 118-page ruling.

“Once the lies and the fantastical elements are stripped away, what is left are deeply disturbing misogynistic chats and emails written by an individual obsessed with imagining women he knows suffering horrific sex-related pain, terror and degradation.”

“Although the alleged conspiracy lasted nearly a year,” he continued, “All communications between Valle and his co-conspirators in New Jersey, India or Pakistan, and England took place over the Internet. None of the conspirators ever met or took steps to meet, nor did they ever speak by telephone.”

Not everyone agrees with the judge’s ruling and many believe that Valle had every intention of committing the crimes and was just caught before he had the chance.

Valle offered an apology after he was released saying,

“I just want people to know out there — anyone I hurt, offended or terrified by my actions — I’m sorry,’’ he said. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think about them.’’

Do you believe Valle was just fantasizing online?

Image via Wikimedia Commons