NEW BERN, N.C. (WNCT) — A federal jury convicted a Texas man last Friday on charges of cyberstalking three people, one of them who lives in Eastern North Carolina.
In a media release from the Office of Michael Easley Jr., US Attorney for the Eastern District of NC, Christopher Kevin Morris, 45, “attempted to ruin the life of a victim in the Eastern District of North Carolina, as well as harass two other victims elsewhere.” Court records and evidence presented at the trial laid out information about what Morris was trying to do.
Officials said Morris tried to defame the North Carolina victim, creating a fake LinkedIn profile that described the person as a child molester and rapist. Morris also sent emails to coworkers, pretending to be the victim and using racist language.
The trial also revealed Morris sent harassing and confrontational emails to each of the victims using a variety of email accounts that implied he was watching them or their family, calling them inappropriate things and using racist and offensive language. He sent a message to one of the victims saying “dead man walking.”
“Finally, Morris attempted to ruin the life of the North Carolina victim by posting source code on the public internet on multiple occasions, code that the victim worked extensively on for six years and was worth millions of dollars,” the media release states. “Morris engaged in this criminal conduct after making inappropriate comments to the North Carolina victim in a forum public to other employees and, after refusing to apologize for his conduct, was removed from his job.”
After his conviction, Easley said Morris faces up to 60 months in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Morris will be sentenced in May, Easley said.
Easley made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan accepted the verdict. The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad DeVoe.
