Landlord sentenced to 3 years in prison

Cyberstalking was ‘evil,’ judge says

Men showed up at her home and her job at all hours of the day and night, thinking she had posted Craigslist ads to summon them for sexual encounters. Disturbing emails laced with pornographic images flooded her inbox. The anonymous messenger chided her about her untidy bedroom.

The bizarre and relentless cyberstalking was so intense that the 24-year-old victim lost her job, moved out of South Florida and even tried to take her own life.

On Friday, her former landlord Magdy “Mike” Boutros was sentenced to three years in federal prison for the terrifying campaign he secretly waged against her after she politely rejected sexual advances from him.

“It was calculated and it was evil…,” U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom told Boutros. “It left a permanent scar on an innocent young person’s life.”

Boutros, 51, of Lake Worth, has been locked up since January when jurors convicted him of cyberstalking the young woman, who is now 30 and has asked to be identified only as “Victim 1.”

The woman, who did not attend the sentencing hearing but testified against Boutros in trial, has asked the judge to make Boutros pay her $100,000 in restitution for the havoc he wreaked on her life. A ruling on that request is expected later this year.

“I lost my lust for life … he stole that from me,” the young woman wrote in her victim impact statement.

Some of the creepy messages told her she could run but she couldn’t hide.

At one point during the onslaught, she said she put a friend’s gun to her head and pulled the trigger, not knowing if the gun was loaded.

Fortunately, it was unloaded, but she said the protracted harassment had a profound effect on her. She still takes anxiety medication, is scared to live alone, and doesn’t like to rent from strangers any more.

“I still live in fear that this will happen to me again,” she wrote. She said she feels that Boutros stole a time in her life – much of her 20s – that should be about fun and self-discovery and adventure.

The woman was a recent college graduate and was struggling financially when she rented a studio apartment in Lake Worth from Boutros for a few months in late 2011 and early 2012.

He apparently sought revenge after she rebuffed his amorous advances, moved out of the rental and got an apartment with a roommate in West Palm Beach, according to investigators.

The stalking began a few months later and went on for several months between November 2012 and June 2013. The complicated investigation was handled by the West Palm Beach Police Department and the FBI.

The case took years to prepare because some of the evidence could not be easily extracted from the older electronic devices that were used, according to court testimony. Recent developments in forensic investigative software helped investigators to find the evidence they needed and criminal charges were filed last year.

Authorities were eventually able to prove that Boutros posted dozens of Craigslist ads, which included the woman’s real name and addresses – in West Palm Beach and Alabama – and were composed to make it look like she wrote them.

Boutros, dressed in beige scrubs, responded to quesrented tions in court Friday with a brief “yes, Your Honor” or “no, Your Honor.” Defense attorneys Tama Kudman and John Cleary said he was too nervous to speak on his own behalf.

During his trial, Boutros had tried to blame the stalking on his ex-wife and prosecutors said he has not shown any acceptance of responsibility for his actions.

Kudman said Boutros plans to appeal but also told the judge that the criminal acts he was convicted of committing occurred while he was going through the bitter breakup of his first marriage. The defense had asked for a period of house arrest, probation and mental health treatment instead of more prison time.

Family members and supporters wrote letters to the judge praising Boutros, who emigrated from Egypt many years ago and became a U.S. citizen, as a hardworking, generous and caring man.

Boutros, who served as a deacon and volunteer maintenance man at St. Peter Coptic Orthodox Church in West Palm Beach, has remarried and is a good dad to his 18-month-old son from the new relationship and an older son from his prior marriage.

Jurors in the case also heard testimony from a second woman who was stalked and harassed in similar ways after she moved out of an apartment she from Boutros around the same time. Boutros was not criminally charged for that but the judge allowed the jury to consider it as evidence of a pattern of similar misconduct.

Many of the ads targeting “Victim 1” featured photographs of naked women in very sexualized poses and invited people to come over to her workplace and her home for sex and even a swinger party.

She was so petrified that she gave up two jobs in South Florida and felt she had no option but to move out of state.

Even after she moved in with her mother in rural Alabama, the stalking continued. Strange men, including one with a six-pack of beer hoisted on his shoulder, showed up and asked her for her by name.

Federal prosecutor Lothrop Morris said Boutros launched a “hightech psychological attack” from what he thought was the anonymity of a computer keyboard and an iPod Touch device. Boutros used fake email addresses and special software to try to hide his identity and his phone number.

The judge also ordered Boutros to undergo mental health treatment and attend domestic violence and anger management classes in prison.