Joel Kurzynski, 39, of Seattle, Washington, a former IT professional was sentenced to 30 months in prison and three years supervised release for conducting cyberstalking and threat campaigns against multiple Washington residents.
The victims’ names are being withheld to protect their privacy.
Kurzynski was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington by U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik, and the announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes of the Western District of Washington.
“Joel Kurzynski’s guilty plea demonstrates that conduct occurring online can cause victims serious harm and anguish offline,” said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski, in September following Kurzynski’s pleading guilty.
“While this prosecution cannot undo the damage this defendant inflicted, it sends a clear message that the Criminal Division and our law enforcement partners are firmly committed to protecting the public and aggressively pursuing malicious actors who hide behind the anonymity of the Internet.”
According to admissions made in connection with his plea, Kurzynski engaged in an extensive and rapidly escalating cyberstalking campaign that targeted two individuals known to him.
The online campaign involved, among other things, death threats, body shaming, and hate speech.
Beginning in March 2017, Kurzynski orchestrated numerous spam phone calls to Victim 1, and his conduct quickly escalated to fake dating profiles wherein Kurzynski portrayed Victim 1 as seeking sadomasochistic or underage relationships.
These profiles contained photographs of Victim 1 and his contact information, resulting in solicitations and harassing messages directed toward Victim 1 from multiple strangers.
Kurzynski then sent several anonymous death threats to Victim 1, including the threat, “faggot. Time to die.”
At one point, Kurzynski impersonated a journalist and contacted Victim 1, claiming that an upcoming article would levy sexual misconduct allegations against Victim 1 related to Victim 1’s work with a non-profit youth organization.
Kurzysnki also admitted that he began registering Victim 2 in November 2017, for numerous weight loss and suicide prevention programs, resulting in a wave of calls and emails from entities such as Overeaters Anonymous, Weight Watchers, Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention, and others.
Within weeks, Kurzynski started sending anonymous death threats to Victim 2, many of which referenced Victim 2’s work address.
One threat claimed that he was waiting for her in the lobby, and another that said, “Looking forward to seeing you today and how much you bleed. Don’t go to the bathroom alone.”
(Learn More about cyberstalking. A young woman innocently accepts a friend request — a decision that will plunge her into a cyber-stalking nightmare. Courtesy of True Crime Daily and YouTube. Posted on Sep 18, 2018.)
The U.S. Secret Service’s Seattle Field Office investigated the case with substantial assistance from the King County Prosecutor’s Office and the Seattle Police Department.
Senior Counsel Frank Lin of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis Franze-Nakamura of the Western District of Washington prosecuted the case.
