A California man who was found guilty of stalking two sisters in his state and harassing an underage girl in Georgia has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison, federal officials said.
Alex Scott Roberts, 27, of Chatsworth, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, received his sentence in a hearing Friday after pleading guilty to two counts of stalking in August, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said.
One stalking count was based on a series of threats and harassment Roberts targeted toward a woman who tried to cut off communication with him, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The second count involved Roberts threatening a 15-year-old girl in Georgia and demanding she send him nude photos.
The case in Georgia began in June 2020 when Roberts told the victim he had nude photos of her and threatened to share them with her parents if she did not send more, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The teenager shared additional photos, and Roberts continued to send her threatening and harassing messages.
The girl was identified only as “Minor 1″ in court documents, and federal officials did not share any information about where in Georgia she was located or how she came into contact with Roberts.
The second case in California took place in July and August 2020, after another victim told Roberts not to communicate with her anymore, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. In response, Roberts sent threatening messages to the woman, her sister and one of the woman’s friends. He threatened to distribute nude photos of the woman, as well as threatening to send someone to rape her and even kill her and her family.
Roberts also created a Craigslist ad offering a room for rent at the woman’s home that told potential renters to “stop by any time,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The texts and other online messages Roberts sent led prosecutors to accuse him of causing “substantial emotional distress” for the woman and that he put his victims in “reasonable fear of death and serious bodily injury,” according to court documents.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Roberts was harassing and threatening these victims just months after being paroled from a California state prison, where he was serving a sentence related to “stalking and extorting young women online.”
Roberts has been in federal custody since December 2020 and will now spend an additional seven years in federal prison after his sentencing, officials said. There is no parole in the federal prison system.
About the Author
