Another Cyber Stalking Incident that occurred in Florida. It seems many Cyber Stalking and Harassment issues occur on Major Internet Forums such as Instagram, Facebook, Redditt etc...............
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*It appears that Cyber Bullying is at an all time high: I think People and the Authorities have no tolerance for this kind of thing any more. It seems that First time Offenders are receiving "Stiff Sentences: which is the correct thing to do: Hopefully this serves as an "Deterrent".
*Another excellent teaching tool for my current students:
Miami Student Sentenced for Cyberstalking on Facebook and Instagram:
Summary of Incident:
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.
Kassandra Cruz, 23, of Miami, Florida, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Frederico A. Moreno to 22 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, a $100 special assessment, and $2,178.32 in restitution, stemming from her conviction on one count of cyberstalking, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2261(A)(2)(B).
According to court documents, beginning in June 2015, victim S.B. received a friend request from Cruz on her Instagram and Facebook accounts. In an effort to gain S.B.s friendship, Cruz created a false persona on her Instagram account wherein she portrayed herself as a male who was an active duty U.S. Marine. Under that ruse, S.B. accepted the friend request.
From late June 2015 until September 2015, Cruz, posing as Giovanni, liked and commented on pictures S.B. posted on both her Instagram and Facebook accounts. However, when S.B. noticed that Cruz had begun following and liking all of her friends pages and posts, she became suspicious and blocked and unfollowed Cruz from her social media accounts.
As a result, Cruz threatened that S.B. would face repercussions at her job and with her family if she did not comply, and specifically threatened to expose S.B.s past via social media. The threats to S.B. persisted from Cruz on social media and later via text messaging, and Cruz ultimately demanded on multiple occasions $100,000 in exchange for no further contact, adding that she knew where S.B.s family lived and they should watch their backs because someone would be heading toto deal with them. In total, S.B. received over 900 unwanted calls and text messages since the beginning of 2016, and the extortionate and threatening messages continued until late April 2016. Ultimately, Cruz was arrested and taken into custody during a pre-arranged meeting in Miami.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jodi L. Anton and Francis Viamontes.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov