Internet stalkers' victims can fight back

If true, specialists in the increasingly frequent crime of cyberstalking, domestic-violence experts and even police say it shouldn't have happened that way.

While the Internet offers stalkers an extra layer of anonymity, one recent victim said it is possible to fight back, and she credits the Pima County Sheriff's Department and the Tucson Police Department with saving her life.

The National Institute of Justice estimates a million Americans fall victim to stalkers each year. Although police statistics don't differentiate between online harassment or stalking and those victimized on the street, experts agree that the Internet is increasingly the weapon of choice.

"The Internet is just another tool to exert power and fear, and they can do it in a way that's more anonymous," said Sarah Jones, chief executive officer of Emerge Center Against Domestic Abuse.

In Theresa's case, she was thrilled to get an e-mail from an old junior high school friend who found her on Classmates.com. Theresa is a Tucson victim whose last name is not being used because she's hiding from her cyberstalker.

After a whirlwind romance, they moved in together.

She quickly learned she had made a mistake, but it took two years to build the courage to sever the relationship and another two years and a jail term for the threatening text messages and e-mails to stop.

"He just wouldn't let go," Theresa said. "He had this fantasy in his head."

Police and sheriff's deputies repeatedly wrote reports about his hundreds of threats. When he e-mailed revealing photos of her to her co-workers, they documented the incident and obtained warrants for his arrest.

After he was released from jail, they even helped get her out of her lease so he couldn't find her, Theresa said.

In the aftermath of last Sunday's fatal shooting of Tucson police Officer Erik Hite, Erin Schrader and Katie Freibert said that was not the response they got when they reported Delich, 25, who had been threatening them for months.

Schrader said she filed a report with the Tucson police in February but never heard back.

If police had checked out Delich's MySpace.com accounts, Schrader said, they would have seen a blog written on Feb. 22 that read, "Soon I plan to kill many police officers."

Freibert, who works at a hospital, chats with police officers often. She told at least six officers about Delich's threats, Freibert said. They all told her she couldn't get an injunction against him to stop his harassment unless she had his physical address, which she didn't.

And none urged her to file a formal complaint against Delich, Freibert said, adding that she received about 100 threatening messages from Delich.

For three years, Freibert said, she was terrified to walk from the hospital to her car after dark.

"I had nightmares," Freibert said. "I'd wake up crying. I'd wake up thinking he was there, holding a gun to my head."

On Monday, Tucson police spokeswoman Lt. Claudette Gross said an investigation is launched whenever officers deem a threat is credible.

On Saturday, police confirmed that Schrader did file a complaint against Delich.

After two days of inquiry, Gross said that because of preparations for Hite's Tuesday funeral, no one in the department was available to discuss whether you must have someone's address to get a protective order, or other departmental investigative policies.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department immediately prioritizes threats, harassment or stalking complaints, sheriff's Sgt. Cathryn Masters said.

"We take these threats just as seriously as any other threat; we don't just dismiss them because they came through the computer," Masters said.

Death threats are obviously at the top of the list, followed by overt threats made by an anonymous person who has information about the victim that is not common knowledge, Masters said.

That information could indicate the threatening person has been near the victim, Masters said.

If a threat is made after a recent run-in with the suspect, that case also would be given top consideration, Masters said.

The message itself also helps to prioritize an investigation, Masters said. For example, an overt threat would be given priority over a vague threat.

Deputy Pima County Attorney Nicol Green said the cases that are prosecuted are those in which there is a "substantial" likelihood of conviction.

"There's not a whole lot of difference to me whether it was done over the phone or in an e-mail; the impact is the same on the victim," Green said.

And often, stalking activities extend beyond the Internet.

When evaluating cases, prosecutors look at the messages, but they also look to see if the suspect's actions have escalated and determine how many events there have been overall, and whether a suspect has violated an existing protective order.

The differences in each case could mean the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor charge, Green said.

Someone can be charged with felony stalking if the offender does something that would make a "reasonable" person fear for his safety or the safety of his immediate family, according to state law. That conduct could include verbal, written or other threats, whether expressed or implied. It also must have occurred two or more times. The penalty: up to five years in prison.

Misdemeanor harassment, which can draw a six-month sentence, is if the offender communicate with another person verbally, electronically, mechanically, telegraphically, telephonically or in writing in a harassing manner.

If an order of protection or an injunction against harassment is in place at the time of the harassment, that person could be charged with aggravated harassment, which is a felony, punishable by up to two years in prison.

Masters, who heads the Sheriff's Department community problems unit, said people often leave themselves vulnerable to cyberstalkers and other Internet criminals by adding their names to e-mail lists, giving their real names in public forums, leaving their social networking pages unrestricted or sharing passwords.

"People need to know that preventing these things is much easier than tracking down suspects after the fact," Masters said.

People also can become victims of not knowing the law, said Marsali Hancock, president of the Internet Keep Safe Coalition, based in Arlington, Va. Many believe they can't do anything about being harassed because of the First Amendment, he said.

In fact, when people join MySpace and Facebook, they agree to follow certain rules, Hancock said. "It's so important for Web users to report bad behavior," he added, because those misbehaving people can be banned.

 Jones, of Emerge Center Against Domestic Abuse, said people who don't know where to turn can call the center's hot line 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even if they're not being stalked by a former loved one.

"People feel embarrassed, and a lot of people go into judgment mode. They start thinking, 'Maybe I'm blowing this out of proportion.' But anytime there's a level of violation, it needs to be reported," Jones said.

Even if the initial message doesn't warrant an arrest, each subsequent message will raise the importance that law- enforcement agencies give the case, Jones said.

Forensic psychologist Sergio Martinez considers sending harassing or threatening messages over the Internet to be an act of violence, because the perpetrator is invading the victim's privacy.

"They want to exert power and control over others, but typically there is not one specific factor as to why," Martinez said. Some are self-centered and have a sense of entitlement and grandiosity; others are often loners who have low self-esteem and want to add some excitement to their lives, he said.

Sadly, there is no way to predict a stalker's behavior with 100 percent accuracy, Martinez said.

Mental health experts may be able to offer an opinion on how dangerous a stalker is, given enough time and information about the stalker.

Unfortunately, law-enforcement officers too often don't have a lot of time or information when they are forced to make risk assessments, Martinez said. "I think they all try to do the best they can, but there's always room for human error," he said.

what to do

If you become the victim of an Internet stalker: 

• Save all messages and call law- enforcement agencies immediately. Even if officers can't pursue charges at first, multiple messages could mean the difference between a prosecutor filing a misdemeanor harassment charge or a felony stalking charge. Multiple messages could also persuade a reluctant judge to issue a protection order or an injunction against harassment.

• Block the user from your social networking page or from e-mailing you.

• If the threats are posted on the stalker's Web page, save the entire screen, including the URL, and print it. Bookmarking it is not enough, because the stalker can alter his Web site.

• Don't confront the stalker. Doing so could increase the chances of the stalker retaliating or escalating his behavior, forensic psychologist Sergio Martinez said.

• Contact Emerge Center Against Domestic Abuse for support. Even if your stalker is not a former loved one, the center can provide referral services, information on obtaining injunctions against harassment, insight into the court process and assistance in developing a safety plan. Call 1-888-428-0101.

• Contact the social-networking page in question, whether it's MySpace, Facebook, Yahoo, etc. The company can take down the Web site and/or ban the stalker while keeping your identity confidential.

Sources: Pima County Sheriff's Department; Sergio Martinez, forensic psychologist; Emerge Center Against Domestic Abuse; Internet Keep Safe Coalition; Pima County Attorney's Office.