Trainer man sent to jail for cyberstalking his ex-girlfriend

A Trainer man was sentenced to three and a half years in a federal prison with three years of supervised release Monday for cyberstalking a former romantic partner and making false reports to authorities about the victim.

Matthew Handy, 25, pleaded guilty in April to one count of cyberstalking, two counts of interstate use of telecommunications device to willfully convey a threat and two counts of false statements, according to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The victim ended a romantic relationship with Handy on Jan. 17, 2014, and moved from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, according to a plea memorandum in the case. Prosecutors say the woman began receiving threatening and harassing calls from an anonymous source that same month.

The Buena Police Department in New Jersey also received an emailed tip Jan. 25, 2014, via the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children indicating the victim was taking pictures of her nieces naked and distributing them, and that she had sexually assaulted her nieces on several occasions.

Several more emailed tips to various law enforcement agencies continued over the following weeks, accusing the victim of making bombs, selling drugs and threatening the tipster’s life by putting a knife against his throat.

One of the tips indicated the victim planned to blow up the Salvation Army building in Chester and that she had conducted reconnaissance on Chester police headquarters. Another claimed the victim’s brother was a “Muslim extremist” who had been supplying the victim and her mother with bomb-making materials. The tip claimed the victim was going to use the bombs against people who had done her wrong, according to the plea document.

An anonymous email to the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office “Crime Stoppers” website on Feb. 10, 2014, claimed the victim and another individual intended to detonate a bomb at a New Jersey middle school that morning. The school of more than 400 students and staff was evacuated and searched by the New Jersey State Police’s K-9 Unit and Bomb Squad.

Each time one of the threats was made, the victim had to undergo an interview with law enforcement and proclaim her innocence, according to the plea memorandum. She was eventually hospitalized due to preexisting depression and mental health issues that were exacerbated by the harassing phone calls and the threats.

Handy was interviewed by federal and state law enforcement officers and admitted that he sent emails containing threats using his cell phone or laptop to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the United States Department of Homeland Security, and the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness from his home in Trainer. He also admitted that all of the allegations he had made against the victim had been false.

Handy has been free on a $20,000 own recognizance bond since September 2016. U.S. District Judge Juan R. Sanchez has given him a surrender and report date of Jan. 5, according to court documents.

Assistant United States Attorney Anita Eve prosecuted the case. Handy was represented by Kathleen M. Gaughan of the Philadelphia Federal Defenders Office.