HARASSMENT HALTED
Man allegedly stole ex-roommate’s info, made threats
The city of Waltham is breathing a collective sigh of relief after the arrest of a 24-year-old alleged cyberstalker federal authorities say engaged in a yearlong campaign of vicious harassment against a former roommate that led to scores of fake bomb and shooting threats.
“It’s a great day in the city of Waltham,” Waltham Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy told the Herald. “There was tremendous concern and this is the first step in a long process, but the appropriate people will make sure it gets finished right to the end.”
Ryan S. Lin, 24, made his initial federal appearance yesterday afternoon in federal court in Boston. He faces a single count of cyberstalking.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Burkart asked that Lin be held and suggested more charges might be coming.
“Mr. Lin is a danger to the community, his cyberstalking campaign involved nervous threats and numerous hoax threats that invoked a police response and posed a risk to the community,” Burkart said, adding “there are a number of crimes under investigation and many of those carry lengthy sentences.”
Lin also has a Chinese passport and his alleged cyberstalking campaign included numerous threats to witnesses, Burkart said in arguing for his detention.
Lin is accused of hacking into his victim’s online accounts and devices, stealing private photographs and diary entries that contained highly sensitive details about her medical, psychological and sexual history, officials said.
He then allegedly distributed her private photographs and diary entries to hundreds of others, including her family, friends, former bosses and her parents’ colleagues, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
Lin’s also accused of creating and posting fake online profiles in the alleged victim’s name, including her photographs and home address, and solicited rape fantasies, including “gang bang” and other sexual activities, which in turn caused men to show up at her home, officials said.
Lin falsely reported there were bombs at the victim’s Waltham home and posted that he was going to “shoot up” a school in a nearby town under the victim’s roommate’s name, the feds said.
Those threats were part of a larger pattern of bomb and shooting calls to schools and day care centers in Waltham this summer, prosecutors say.
Lin is due back in court Oct. 11 in Worcester for a detention hearing. If convicted, he faces a maximum of five years in prison under federal guidelines.