A former University of Delaware student has been extradited to the United States from Germany almost a year after he was indicted on federal charges of cyberstalking and threats made in interstate or foreign commerce, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
The 29-year-old from Mays Landing, New Jersey, has also been separately indicted for wire fraud and money laundering after federal prosecutors say he fraudulently accrued over $1.4 million in pandemic business loans, the Department of Justice said.
The man, who attended UD for one year beginning in the fall of 2018 moved to Germany in October 2020, according to court records obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal. He had previously been arrested in late 2019 and put on police probation in 2020 for stalking and harassing two of his classmates — the same women officials say he cyberstalked and threatened again while abroad beginning in 2021.
Previous threats
Court records show that the harassment and stalking began in 2019 in retaliation for the decision of two of the man’s classmates to no longer be his lab partner and discontinue carpooling to tennis practice with him.
He spent half a year sending both women threatening and antisemitic messages with randomly-generated phone numbers, according to court documents, before UD police became involved and arrested him.
He was put on probation for a year, according to court records, but was released early and moved abroad to study at a university in Germany.
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The following September, court documents show that the man once again began sending threatening messages to his former lab partner. He sent her a Venmo request for money and told her he was going to shoot her over Facebook, email and text messages.
The woman told police she was afraid to go outside, and feared that the man may send someone to kill her. The other former classmate reported a similar fear, stating that the 29-year-old was “dangerous and unstable.”
She had started receiving threatening messages from the man on Venmo and Facebook, including a money request “for the bullet (he’s) going to put in (her) head,” court records detail.
Investigators were able to link all of the accounts back to the man, and he was charged with cyberstalking and threats made in interstate or foreign commerce in July. He has only just been extradited back to the U.S., according to the Department of Justice.
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CARES Act Fraud
These were not the only crimes the former UD student committed while living abroad, the Department of Justice said.
The man applied for 10 fraudulent loans under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which was meant to help businesses suffering due to the pandemic.
Court records show that the man claimed to operate everything from a theater to a contracting company, going so far as to create fake websites and alter photos of actual businesses to make his appear legitimate. He successfully received five of the 10 loans and grants he applied for, earning a total of over $1.4 million which he then moved into investment companies or exchanged into cryptocurrency, according to court documents.
The Department of Justice said law enforcement has since retaken over $1.1 million of these funds through “associated forfeiture proceedings.”
If the man is convicted on all charges, the Department of Justice said he faces up to five years in prison for threats and stalking and 20 years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering.
Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on Twitter at @h_edelman.
