By Pat Jenkins
The Dispatch
A Graham man who allegedly sent sexually explicit pictures and videos of his ex-girlfriend to her friends and relatives is facing criminal charges of cyberstalking.
The Pierce County prosecutor’s office on Dec. 23 filed charges of felony stalking and cyberstalking, violation of a protection order, harassment and disseminating private images against Michael Andrew Hart, 43. He was arrested and jailed, and bail was set at $300,000.
Prosecuting Attorney Mark Lindquist said the case is an example of the lengths that online technology can be used to disrupt lives.
“Protecting the community includes keeping up with new technology and new forms of harassment,” Lindquist said. “Virtual actions can hurt real people.”
According to authorities, Hart was convicted in 2014 of attempting to elude police, assault, felony harassment, resisting arrest, and violation of a no-contact order. The victim in the crimes was Hart’s former girlfriend.
Hart was sentenced and a permanent no-contact order was authorized by a judge. Here, prosecutors said, is what Hart was up to since then that led to the latest charges against him:
He was released from the Pierce County Jail on Dec. 4, 2015. The same day, the victim and her daughters began receiving Facebook messages sent from an account associated with Hart.
On Feb. 13 last year, a private Facebook Messenger message was sent to the victim from a fake Facebook account also associated with Hart. The message included sexually explicit photographs of the victim that were taken by Hart when he and the woman were in a relationship. Then on March 4, another private message was sent by Hart. Labeled "Karma," it, too included explicit photographs of the victim, who hadn’t consented to them.
The images of her were sent to everyone in her contact list, including her mother, her mother's friends, her aunt and great-aunt, her children, her children's friends and boyfriends, the parents of her children's friends, and her friends from school and work. In addition to the pictures, digital videos of the victim performing sex acts were also sent out to her contacts.
The victim said Hart assaulted her numerous times and threatened to kill her and people close to her. She said she believed him and was afraid.
The charges against Hart followed an investigation by the Tacoma Police Department. A trial in Pierce County Superior Court is scheduled for Feb. 13. As of Dec. 27, he was still in the county jail.
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