Michael Ghali, Cyberstalking, Maryland 2020

A Fairfax, Virginia man has pleaded guilty to federal cyberstalking charges for sending threatening messages to two victims in Maryland.

Maryland residents, including a hospital administrator, were targeted by Michael Ghali, 35, who used anonymous phone numbers and email addresses to send explicit and threatening messages.

According to the plea agreement, Ghali sent Victim 1, an acquaintance, a series of sexually explicit and threatening text messages in June 2020 using an application that allows users to acquire phone numbers to send text messages without being associated with their known phone number.

During the same time, Ghali sent Victim 2, the head of a medical department at a Baltimore-based hospital, a series of emails from email addresses he created for the purpose of sending Victim 2 threatening messages, accusing Victim 2 of sexually abusing employees in the medical department and minors, and which claimed that the sender had photos of the abuse. Ghali demanded that Victim 2 resign from his position at the hospital and threatened to send the purported photos of the abuse to the press.

As a result of the threatening messages, Victim 1 contacted the Anne Arundel County Police Department and obtained a protective order that became effective on July 7, 2020. Similarly, after Victim 2 received an email from Ghali which threatened Victim 2's life and the lives of his grandchildren, Victim 2 hired a professional security detail and changed his surgical and other schedules.

Ghali faces a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in prison and a maximum of five years in prison for cyberstalking. U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III has scheduled sentencing for November 28, 2023, at 9:30 a.m. Ghali has been detained since his arrest and remains detained pending sentencing.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/virginia-man-pleads-guilty-federal-cyberstalking-maryland-woman