Man guilty of stalking ex-girlfriend online
Former energy trader from Richmond used web to cause distress
Editor’s note: This story originally appeared only in early editions of Thursday’s paper.
A former Richmond energy trader was convicted in a rare federal online stalking trial of sending gruesome and threatening images to an ex-girlfriend, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Following a five-day trial before U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt, a Houston jury found Heriberto Latigo guilty late Friday of intentionally torturing the woman through a series of graphic emails and web-based posts. The unusual allegations included the internet-era offense that Latigo, 44, used the web to cause significant emotional distress, a charge federal prosecutors have been able to prove for fewer than 100 defendants over 10 years.
The charges were brought under a 1996 anti-stalking law that was part of the Violence Against Women Act, which makes it a felony to cross state lines to stalk, intimidate or harass someone causing them fear of serious bodily injury or death.
He faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 at his sentencing, now set for Jan. 8. Latigo was denied bail in June 2015 after a magistrate found his activities where so egregious and that he posed a continued threat to his victim.
A tumultuous relationship
Latigo opted to defend himself against the allegations, although he had standby counsel from the Federal Public Defender’s Office. He made opening and closing statements and questioned witnesses, including his ex-girlfriend. That portion of the questioning he conducted seated at counsel table, according to the judge’s instructions.
Latigo, who had worked as an oil trader at the Italian oil company ENI, sought to argue at trial that the stalking charges were in retaliation for whistleblower allegations he filed accusing his former girlfriend of being involved in financial fraud at the company. However, prosecutors argued this information had no bearing on the case, and the judge agreed, blocking the parties from mentioning it during the criminal trial.
Evidence at trial laid out the tumultuous relationship — which begain in 2013 — between the exlovers. The woman testified that Latigo became increasingly controlling as the relationship progressed, pressuring the woman to send him naked images of herself.
Later, she said, he became physically combative and she told the jury he raped her. She testified that when she learned she was pregnant in June 2014, she couldn’t go on. Latigo’s conduct was so manipulative and out of control, she said, that she decided to have an abortion.
She said that in response, Latigo set up a Facebook page titled “Magdelana Aborted” written from the viewpoint of the aborted fetus. He then sent her a link to the page with the words, “Your abortion video will now be posted you whore.”
The online conduct prompted her to try to kill herself by overdosing on tranquilizers.
But the conduct continued.
Blackmail and threats
Evidence during the trial demonstrated how Latigo continued to blackmail and threaten the victim during a period from March 2014 to April 2015 and employed a stockpile of images she had sent him of herself.
Witnesses said Latigo used them to get her to agree to sexual demands, explaining he would post the images online unless she did what he asked. She contacted Google multiple times to have naked pictures of her removed. The defendant also forwarded the images to the victim’s sister, her sister’s boss and her male coworkers.
He also set up a Gmail account and a Google+ page using the victim’s name that featured a naked image of her as the profile picture. The U.S. attorney noted in a news release that the woman cried on the witness stand when she learned that naked images had been sent in response to a Craigslist ad that she had supposedly created.
A forensic analyst testified that Latigo used multiple Facebook accounts and logged on to the victim’s account from his own computer in an attempt to avoid detection. From his own email address, Latigo also sent messages demeaning the woman and commanding her to comply with sexual acts, according to witnesses.
She told the jury because of Latigo’s egregious internet conduct she moved, changed jobs, closed her Facebook account and stayed offline. But Latigo tracked her down, showed up at her workplace and kept up the behavior.
Another witness testified that Latigo appeared at the school of the victim’s daughter’s to stalk her in person.
Latigo argued to the jury that the victim brought the case because she wanted to hurt him and said she had been the one who created the accounts she said he had set up.