A former school observe and area coach was sentenced Wednesday to 5 years behind bars for establishing sham social media and e mail accounts in an try to trick girls, together with some he coached, into sending him nude or semi-nude photographs of themselves.
Steve Waithe, who coached at Northeastern University in Boston, Penn State University, Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Tennessee, and Concordia University Chicago, pleaded responsible final 12 months to 12 counts of wire fraud, one rely of conspiracy to commit pc fraud and one rely of pc fraud, prosecutors stated. The 31-year-old Waithe additionally pleaded responsible to cyberstalking one sufferer via textual content messages and direct messages despatched through social media, in addition to by hacking into her Snapchat account, prosecutors stated.
“These weren’t just victims that lost some money. These were people who lost their privacy, their sense of safety and destruction of trust,” Judge Patti Saris stated. “Many of them cared for you, Mr. Waithe. and you broke their hearts. It was very much a breach of trust.”
Prosecutors stated Waithe “left behind a devastating path riddled literally with dozens of victims” and have referred to as for him to be jailed for 84 months, together with the 17 months he has already served since his arrest, together with 36 months of supervised launch. They accused him getting photographs from greater than 50 victims and attempting to get them from one other 72.
“The depth of deceit demonstrated by Steve Waithe in this case is deeply disturbing. This predator readily betrayed the trust of over 50 women, tricking them into sending him explicit photos which he then used to exploit and extort them. His reprehensible actions inflicted significant anguish on these victims who were living in fear of being so personally exposed,” stated Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division. “Today’s sentence shows that cyberstalking and sextortion is not some sick game, they’re serious crimes, and the FBI will continue to unmask and hold accountable anyone who uses today’s technology in such a vile way.”
“To many of the victims in this case, Steve Waithe presented himself as a relatable coach and mentor. To other victims, he was a work colleague or a random acquaintance. To still others, he was considered a childhood friend,” prosecutors wrote. “However, by the time of his arrest in April 2021, Steve Waithe was to all of these women only one thing: a predator set on exploiting his position and relationships for his own pleasure.”
A half dozen of his victims spoke on the sentencing, some utilizing their first names and plenty of showing near tears.
Many talked of how Waithe gained their confidence with reward and manipulated them into gaining access to their telephones or requesting them to ship him inappropriate photographs beneath the guise of analysis. The total expertise left many anxious and fearful that these pictures would nonetheless floor on the web and probably disrupt or derail their private {and professional} lives.
They demanded the court docket give Waithe as stiff of a sentence as potential.
“He was willing to violate university rules. He was willing to violate conditions of release,” one sufferer stated, noting his conduct continued after his preliminary arrest. “I don’t believe even after he gets out he will stop. I’m honestly begging that you give him as much time as possible.”
Turning to the victims, a bearded and composed Waithe apologized and referred to as on the court docket to offer him a good sentence. His father and siblings have been in court docket watching the proceedings. He additionally talked of his psychological well being challenges, together with anxiousness and melancholy.
“I know my words will not do justice to reversing the damage I caused,” he stated. “Hearing your statements today has impacted me further than any incarceration could … There is no way to put into words just how impactful my actions were on your lives and will continue to be on your lives. I understand the life I had and the life I threw away and the severity of my actions.”
Waithe’s legal professional, Jane Peachy, requested for a sentence of 27 to 33 months adopted by three years of probation, saying the son of Trinidadian dad and mom had accepted full accountability for his actions. He was an All-American observe athlete at Penn State.
She expressed opposition to the ultimate sentence and pushed again on a number of circumstances upon his launch, together with not teaching or mentoring girls or ladies nor receiving or soliciting inappropriate photographs of women or girls.
“Nothing about our sentencing recommendation is meant to minimize the crimes committed by Mr. Waithe,” Peachy stated. “It is not a free pass. It is not condoning his behavior in any way … It is the sentence the law calls for.”
While a observe coach at Northeastern, Waithe requested the cellphones of feminine student-athletes beneath the pretense of filming them at follow and meets, however he as a substitute covertly despatched himself specific photographs of the ladies that had beforehand been saved on their telephones, in line with prosecutors.
Prosecutors stated beginning as early as February 2020, Waithe used the sham social media accounts to contact girls, saying he had discovered compromising photographs of them on-line. He would then provide to assist the ladies get the photographs eliminated, asking them to ship further nude or semi-nude photographs that he might purportedly use for “reverse image searches,” prosecutors stated.
Waithe additional invented a minimum of two feminine personas — “Katie Janovich” and “Kathryn Svoboda” — to acquire nude and semi-nude photographs of ladies beneath the purported premise of an “athlete research” or “body development” research, investigators stated.
He additionally joined websites that allowed him to attach with others to distribute the stolen pictures and commerce units of pictures with different customers.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”