Man Pleads Guilty to Threats to Expose Pics of “Grindr Slag” Neighbor

This article first appeared in The Advocate.

A man in Australia pleaded guilty to threatening to distribute sexually revealing images of a gay neighbor if he didn’t turn down his loud music.

According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, Shane Ustick, 60, of Sydney in New South Wales, pleaded guilty in Newtown Local Court last week to charges that he threatened to distribute the revealing images of his neighbor without the man’s consent. The incident took place August 30 when Ustick objected to the volume of his neighbor’s music during lunch.

The following day, Ustick placed a birthday card addressed to “Grindr Slag” in the mailbox of his neighbor.

“Not bad looking but a slag! What would your parents say + real estate agent say,” Ustick wrote on the interior of the birthday card.

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The card was found by the neighbor’s roommate.

“Hey, Grindr boy we know who you are we are tired of listening to your music,” Ustick also wrote in the card. “After your big day … we now have some pics next time you decide to turn up the music pictures + flyers in every letterbox + every lamppost in the area.”

Ustick later admitted he had no photos to post.

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The court heard that Ustick had no prior criminal activity and was an upstanding citizen of the community and was an active contributor to the Australia Council of the Arts.

“The reason I wrote it was because I wanted some peace and quiet,” Ustick reportedly said, according to court documents. “It was a very dumb thing to do.”

Although he pleaded and was found guilty, Ustick was not technically convicted. He received a 12-month conditional release sentence.