Illinois Man Gets 5 Years in Prison for Cyberstalking Woman

Dating was dangerous enough before the internet, but there are now new ways you need to learn to protect yourself and this is a perfect example. A man in Illinois was just sentenced to 5 years in prison after he was convicted of cyberstalking a woman he met online and it could have been even worse.

The United States Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Illinois recently shared a press release about a man in suburban Chicago who was convicted of doing bad things to a woman he met on the Grindr app. They say that Kevin Cruz, a 34-year-old Oak Park, Illinois man met a woman online in 2021. He allegedly sent explicit pictures of himself to the woman who he met in-person several times. He wanted a romantic relationship, but she did not. That led to a series of terrible harassment actions by Cruz.

The press release said he created multiple fake accounts using the victim's name and photos and then contacted other men who he encouraged to stop by her home and have encounters with her even if she resisted. He even sent explicit photos of the victim to her family and once contacted her mother claiming that she had committed suicide.

“Defendant’s conduct shocks the conscience,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan L. Shih argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “He created significant risks that the victim would be hurt, injured, and raped.”

After Cruz pled guilty to the federal cyberstalking charges, he was ordered to pay $17,313.18 in restitution to the victim in addition to his 5-year prison sentence.