New York - A New York man was arrested Friday and charged in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York with conducting an extensive cyberstalking and threats campaign that targeted a woman he dated for several months in 2013 and 2014. The victim’s name is being withheld to protect her privacy.
Acting Assistant Attorney John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman of the Southern District of New York made the announcement.
David Waldman, 50, of New York, New York, was charged in a criminal complaint with one count of cyberstalking and two counts of sending interstate threats. Waldman will have his initial court appearance later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in courtroom 5A in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
According to the affidavit in support of the complaint, Waldman is charged with engaging in an extensive cyberstalking campaign targeting a woman he briefly dated. The campaign began in April 2014, shortly after Waldman and the victim ended their relationship, and continued intermittently until the date of Waldman’s arrest. Over the course of almost four years, Waldman sent the victim hundreds of text messages, voicemail messages, and e-mail messages, and made voluminous posts on a variety of online platforms, in which he claimed, among other assertions, that she had been diagnosed with bipolar and narcissistic personality disorder, used drugs, and fabricated claims that she had been a victim of child sexual abuse. In his online communications, Waldman also repeatedly threatened to show up at the victim’s apartment and office and threatened to injure, torture, and sexually assault her. Waldman also sent email messages to the victim’s employers, accusing her of being a “habitual drug user” and claiming that he would sue her for defamation, theft, illegal trespass, violating HIPAA, and engaging in other “illegal behaviors.”
Over the course of the alleged cyberstalking campaign, the victim obtained multiple state court orders of protection against Waldman.
The case was investigated by special agents with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Senior Trial Attorney Mona Sedky of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Chiuchiolo of the Southern District of New York are prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
