Jury convicts New York cop in cannibal plot - 12 News KBMT and K-JAC. News, Weather and Sports for SE Texas

By Alan Duke

New York police officer Gilberto Valle conspired to kidnap women, who prosecutors argued he planned to rape, torture, cook and eat, a federal jury decided Tuesday.

Valle's lawyers argued the former police officer's e-mails and online postings were just "fantasy role-play" and"dark improv theater," but prosecutors said he was "deadly serious."

Valle faces life in prison for the kidnap conspiracy conviction. He was also found guilty of illegally accessing a federal law enforcement database.

The database, which Valle was trained to use and had access to as a cop, helped him research potential victims, prosecutors said.

No one was ever kidnapped or eaten, but the jury did see what prosecutors said were detailed plans to carry out Valle's plot.

A document found on his wife's laptop was titled "Abducting and Cooking Kimberly -- A Blueprint." It included a photograph of Kimberly Sauer and personal information, including her bra size and shoe size. Sauer's testimony revealed that some of the information -- a different last name, birthplace, birth date and college education -- was inaccurate.

The same document listed "materials needed," which included a gag, rope, chloroform and a tarp for the trunk. The FBI never found any of these items in Valle's possession.

References to the blueprint were found in chats the FBI deemed "fantasy role-play," along with references to waterboarding and chloroform, terms frequently used in the online conversations.

Valle will be sentenced at a later date by U.S. District Court Judge Paul Gardephe.

-- CNN's Mark Norman contributed to this report.