17 years of stalking officer earns prison time

A Columbus man was sentenced to more than 4 years in prison Wednesday for cyberstalking Delaware County Sheriff Russell Martin for more than 17 years.

U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson sentenced 54-year-old William E. Young to 55 months in prison for harassment dating to an arrest by Martin of Young in 1999.

Martin, then a member of the Delaware Police Department, arrested Young on a charge of menacing by stalking a Delaware County woman. That’s when the harassment started in the form of threatening letters and online posts.

Young was indicted on the federal cyberstalking charge in August, and he pleaded guilty in January. He filed a motion in April to withdraw his guilty plea; that was denied by a federal judge in Columbus.

Young mailed letters to Martin’s wife and family, neighbors, doctor, barber, church and local organizations including Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware City Hall and the Delaware Police Department.

One 62-page letter from Young to Martin’s wife said: “I’ll force his hand if the powers that be make the mistake of coming after me again.”

Young also created web pages that made derogatory statements about Martin, and he filed lawsuits against Martin, another officer and the Delaware Police Department.

“Young engaged in a campaign to harass and intimidate the victims of this case for nearly two decades,” U.S. Attorney Benjamin C. Glassman said Wednesday in a news release. “He sent at least 60 letters and mail on separate occasions, and created four separate websites to further his stalking activity. His deliberate, relentless stalking and the harm to the victims from his crime warrants the sentence he received.” Young