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Kristian James O’Hara, of Bardonia, was sentenced Friday, Jan. 10, following his guilty plea in April of 2019, said Delaware U.S. Attorney David C. Weiss.
According to court documents and statements made in open court, O’Hara led an 18-month cyberstalking conspiracy designed to intimidate and harass a former college classmate and her parents.
From December 2016 through May 2018, O’Hara and his co-conspirator Vincent James Palesky, of Hawthorne, New Jersey, harassed the victim and her parents in multiple ways.
They frequently sent late-night food orders to her apartment, spoofed phone calls to her phone, and left disturbing voicemails at her childhood home in Delaware, falsely claiming the victim gave them a sexually transmitted disease.
O’Hara drew upon his friendship with the victim in order to gain information about her location and her activities, which he then used to further his cyberstalking campaign, the U.S. Attorney said.
In May 2018, O’Hara escalated the conduct by signing up the victim’s work email address for membership at websites including Pornhub.com, barraging the victim’s new cell phone number with spoofed calls, and posting the victim’s name, likeness, and cell phone number on a sex-chat website.
Each time his victim took steps to deter him, O’Hara found new means to inject himself into her life. The persistent nature of O’Hara’s conduct caused his victim to fear leaving her home alone, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
O’Hara and Palesky also cyberstalked five other individuals between 2016 and 2018, including former high school acquaintances, another college classmate, and coworkers. O’Hara bragged to others about the “standard procedure” they used to psychologically harm victims.
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