Man who cyberstalked Parkland shooting victims jailed for five years
Brandon Fleury used 13 Instagram accounts to harass the families of Parkland shooting victims
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Your support makes all the difference.A man has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for cyberstalking family members of Parkland shooting victims.
The shooting was carried out by Nikolas Cruz at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on 14 February 2018, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others.
According to the Department of Justice, District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz rejected a request from prosecutors for a maximum 20-year sentence for 22-year-old Brandon Fleury, instead sentencing him to 5.5 years behind bars.
Mr Fleury was convicted of three counts of cyberstalking alongside one count of transmitting a kidnapping threat in October 2019.
The 22-year-old used 13 Instagram accounts to harass the families between December 2018 and January 2019 using aliases such as notorious serial killer Ted Bundy and Mr Cruz.
Thousands of saved images of Ted Bundy alongside images of the families and screenshots Mr Fleury sent them were also found on the his computer according to the Department of Justice report.
He sent his first message on 22 December 2018 and on 25 December 2018 the 22-year-old sent a message saying: “I’m your abductor I’m kidnapping you fool.” with another reading: "Did you like my Valentines gift? I killed your friends,"
The Department of Justice report shows that he continued to send messages to the victims throughout January with his last message sent on 11 January 2019.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ajay Alexander said in court papers that "the victims lived in constant fear" that he would follow in Cruz's footsteps.
Mr Alexander added: "The victims deserve justice. They deserve to live in peace and with the belief that they are safe and secure."
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