Austin Santoro, Email Spoofing and Identity Theft, Maine 2018

Austin Santoro, 23, of York, Maine, is going to prison for two years after pleading guilty to sending violent, sexually charged threats via spoofed email to law enforcement and college staff across state lines. The sentence, handed down today in U.S. District Court by Judge D. Brock Hornby, includes three years of supervised release following incarceration.

Santoros’ cyber rampage unfolded in January 2018, when he targeted employees of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Police Department with a threatening email that claimed it was sent by their own police chief. Using an email ‘spoofing’ service, he masked his identity and delivered a message threatening to sexually assault officers at gunpoint—a calculated move designed to incite terror within a law enforcement agency sworn to protect others.

On the same day, Santoro struck again—this time against employees of York County Community College. He sent identical threats to staff work email accounts, again using spoofed credentials to make it appear the message came from a trusted employee within the college. The emails were not only criminal—they were psychological weapons, exploiting digital trust to spread fear among unsuspecting victims.

The crime wasn’t just about threats. By falsifying sender information to impersonate officials, Santoro committed identity theft, a federal offense that compounded his accountability. His actions triggered a multi-agency response, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations leading the probe that eventually traced the digital footprints back to his doorstep.

Santoros’ plea on December 17, 2018, laid bare the cold mechanics of his scheme. No accomplices. No grand manifesto. Just one man weaponizing email to infiltrate the inboxes—and minds—of public employees doing their jobs. The two-year prison term reflects the severity of using digital deception to deliver credible threats across state lines.

“These weren’t pranks. They were felonies,” said U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank in a statement following sentencing. “When you weaponize communication systems and impersonate authority figures to terrorize workers, you will face federal time.” Santoro now begins that time, a warning to others who might test the line between internet bravado and federal crime.

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