Online sex ads stalking trial begins

The stalker was relentless. He seemed to have infiltrated every part of her life.

Men were showing up at her apartment and her job, asking for her by name and saying they were there for the sexual encounters she had advertised on Craigslist. Another ad invited people to a swingers’ party at her home.

An unnerving email chided her for the untidiness of her bedroom. The sender said he’d forward her a photograph he’d taken while he was snooping around, if she wanted proof. He included her address.

Some of the sex ads, posted to make it look like she was a willing participant, included photographs of naked women in very sexualized poses.

On Thursday, the woman went to court and faced down the man who federal prosecutors and the FBI say cyberstalked her for several months when she was 24. She testified against Magdy “Mike” Boutros, her former landlord who rented her a studio apartment in Lake Worth for just a few months in late 2011 and early 2012.

“I felt like there was nothing I could do to make this stop,” the woman told jurors in the trial in federal court in Miami. She said she wants to be identified only as “Victim 1.”

“My life was in ultimate turmoil,” she said. “I was scared to go to work … I was scared to leave my house.”

Boutros, 50, of Lake Worth, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of cyberstalking and harassing the woman across state lines, as well as one count each of possession and distribution of child pornography. The offenses carry potential punishments of five to 20 years in federal prison. Boutros is free on bond.

It began when the woman, a recent college graduate, rented the Lake Worth apartment from Boutros. Federal prosecutors say Boutros became obsessed with her and was upset when she rejected sexual advances from him.

The woman told jurors she initially thought Boutros was just a very friendly and helpful father figure. She saved his number in her cellphone contacts as “Landlord Mike.”

But it got weird after he sent her a message telling her he couldn’t sleep because he was thinking about her all night, she said. She let him know she wanted only a regular landlord-tenant friendship but wondered why he always seemed to be hanging around outside when she was coming and going to her two jobs in Delray Beach and Jupiter.

“I realized he was using the security cameras to keep tabs on me,” she said.

Boutros got upset and texted her when he saw, via the security camera, that she had an overnight guest. He texted to ask why there was more than one car in the driveway and complained the utilities bill would be more expensive, though the friend was there for only a few hours.

She thought they were on good terms when she moved out of the Lake Worth apartment and moved in with a roommate in West Palm Beach in early 2012.

Seven months later, the harassment and stalking began. She printed out a binder full of ads, anonymous emails and texts, many of which came from fake accounts set up in her name so it looked like she was emailing herself.

She reported the problems to police but she said they initially told her she was probably the victim of a practical joke.

But the harassment escalated and when she and her mom showed up at the West Palm Beach police department in November 2012, detectives took her very seriously.

She moved back to her mom’s home in rural Alabama after the stalker contacted her and said there was a tracking device on her car. The message said she could run but she couldn’t hide. Attached was a photo of her car parked outside her home.

Police checked her vehicle and found nothing but advised her to get out of the area before they served a restraining order on the top suspect, Boutros.

She told jurors she thought she’d be safe in her mom’s home, which she said is in a rural area and hard to find. But the problems followed her.

“Men began to show up at my mom’s house, asking for me by name, soliciting sex,” she said. One man showed up with a six-pack of beer hoisted on his shoulder, ready for a sex party.

Boutros, who had been watching her intently as she testified, stared down at the defense table once she began to cry.

Under cross-examination, the woman acknowledged Boutros had been kind to her, often buying her bagels and lunch, giving her $500 once when she was broke, helping to fix her car and to find used furniture on Craigslist.

The defense is arguing that Boutros was set up and they are attempting to pin the blame on his ex-wife. The victim said she never had any problems with Boutros’s then-wife.

Early on, when the victim told Boutros she was being stalked, he urged her to call the police. He also forwarded her an email he had sent to what investigators say was a fictional man that Boutros claimed had been asking about her. Boutros wrote to the “man” accusing him of being sick and saying the sex ads were putting the victim in danger.

“He was acting like he was being a supportive friend while I was going through this,” she said.