Guilty plea entered by Cyberstalker in Federal Court
Sentencing next January at U.S. District Court in Sacramento.
Today a man accused of cyberstalking pleaded guilty at U.S. District Court in Sacramento. The plea was entered by Michael Jameson Chand, 32, of Sacramento County.
Evidence gathered showed Chand intentionally engaged in repeated conduct to harass or intimidate the victim, Jane Doe, and used a cellphone and the internet to do so. This stalking and harassment caused the female victim substantial emotional distress as Chand had previously committed crimes against her.
Those crimes included a 2017 conviction for offenses that included eliciting child sexual exploitation material from the victim, who was 15 years old at the time. Chand was sentenced to two years in jail for that conviction.
On Dec. 23, 2019, while on parole, Chand posted a public Facebook post under an alias, including Jane Doe’s full name, falsely claimed that she was dating a murderer, and asking, “please everybody help me get her into a mental hospital if you want her contact info let me know please.”
Following that, between June and October of 2020, Chande called her approximately 176 times and left 63 voicemail messages. Many of the voicemail messages contained insults and threats against Jane Doe and her family.
Additionally, Chand created multiple social media accounts, some under aliases, to contact and harass Jane Doe. Using such accounts, he made posts publicly naming Jane Doe, and saying things that were designed to harass and intimidate Jane Doe.
Chand doxed the victim revealing her full name, her city and state of birth, and included a photo from her social media account, and falsely stated that “she killed her ex [boyfriend].” He also falsely claimed that Jane Doe had planned to move in with and would expose her “baby” to a “rapist,” and wrote, “Please help me find a way to get the poor kid away from her.”
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office, and the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adrian T. Kinsella and Christina McCall are prosecuting the case.
Chand is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez on Jan. 7, 2025. Chand faces a maximum statutory sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
