FEDS: EX-COACH ASKED FOR NUDES
Allegedly used social media to trick female athletes into sending pics
A former Northeastern University track and field coach is accused of using sham social media accounts to trick female student athletes into sending him nude or seminude photos — showing “as much skin as possible.”
Steve Waithe, 28, formerly of Somerville, was charged by criminal complaint with one count of cyberstalking and one count of wire fraud.
Waithe was arrested by FBI agents at 6:45 a.m. Wednesday at his Chicago home his lawyer said he shares with his girlfriend. He made an initial appearance in federal court in Chicago, where Magistrate Judge Beth W. Jantz ordered that he be held until a hearing Friday, when she will determine whether he should continue to be detained or be released on certain conditions. He will appear in court in Boston at a later date.
Waithe was employed as a track and field coach at Northeastern University in Boston from October 2018 to February 2019. During that time, he frequently asked to use female athletes’ cellphones under the pretense of filming their form at practice and at meets, according to court documents.
Beginning in at least February 2020, Waithe contacted alleged victims through social media accounts, said that he had found compromising photos of them online and offered to “help” get the photos removed, the documents say.
Waithe asked for more nude or seminude photos that he could purportedly use for “reverse image searches,” the feds say. He used various pseudonyms on social media, including “Privacy Protector,” “Katie Janovich” and “Anon,” followed by various numbers, according to court documents.
From at least June 21, 2020, to Oct. 3, 2020, Waithe cyberstalked at least one female Northeastern student athlete through social media messages and intrusion into her Snapchat account, the documents allege.
The feds say Waithe also searched the internet for information on how to hack Snapchat accounts and visited web pages with titles like, “Can anyone trace my fake Instagram account back to me?”
He emailed some prospective victims, using the personas of “Katie Janovich” or “Kathryn Svoboda,” under the premise of an “athlete research” or “body development” study, court documents say. The emails asked the victims to send photos of themselves in a “uniform or bathing suit to show as much skin as possible,” the feds say.
Investigators have identified more than 10 victims of the “body development study” scheme and over 300 related nude and seminude images of victims in Waithe’s email accounts, according to court documents.
In a statement on Wednesday, Northeastern University spokeswoman Renata Nyul said: “Mr. Waithe was … terminated in February 2019 as a result of a university investigation into his inappropriate conduct toward female student athletes. Impacted students were provided with counseling and other resources. The university also contacted federal law enforcement officials and worked in full cooperation for the duration of the federal investigation.”
Federal investigators are asking anyone who believes she was a victim of the scheme to visit a special web page set up for tips in this case.