A Plymouth man is accused of stalking a woman online for seven years, posting phony photos on websites, soliciting sex, and creating fake social media and email accounts to harass her.
James Florence Jr., 36, was arrested without incident Wednesday at his apartment in the Redbrook development in South Plymouth and later appeared in federal court in Boston. He was ordered detained pending a Sept. 16 hearing.
According to the criminal complaint, Florence began stalking the woman, a university professor, in late 2017. They met through a mutual friend who had gone to high school with her. He had attended parties at her house between 2015 and 2017.
Since then, Florence allegedly created multiple social media accounts and email addresses, which he used to harass and threaten the woman anonymously, according to an affidavit by Laura Macrorie, a special FBI agent.
“The defendant’s alleged actions represent a chilling window into the dangers of online harassment and cyberstalking in the digital age,” said Acting US Attorney Josh Levy in a news release.
“Using advanced technology to manipulate, torment, and publicly humiliate someone for years is not just reprehensible, it is criminal. No one should have to endure the kind of relentless harassment and devastating psychological toll that we allege this victim has bravely endured,” Levy said.
Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the Boston FBI office, said that Florence tried “to hide behind his keyboard to sadistically cyberstalk and surveille the victim in this case, inflicting immense trauma and pain on both her and her family.”
Over the years, Florence allegedly posted digitally altered images depicting the victim as nude or semi-nude. He allegedly posted the victim’s personally identifiable information on these accounts and on numerous websites. That included her personal email addresses, home address, professional contact information, account passwords and even a list of colors she had previously dyed her hair, to “dox” her – that is, to humiliate her by posting personal information online, federal prosecutors said.
Since 2018 her name, picture, and other personal information was posted on at least 13 websites, the complaint said.
She has received at least 60 distressing texts, emails or calls from unknown senders discussing her image and information posted online, according to the FBI.
The woman first noticed in late 2017 that pictures of her and her underwear were posted on Craigslist in a section soliciting casual sex, authorities alleged.
Investigators believe the suspect took photos of her and her underwear when he was at her former home.
In February 2023, she discovered pictures of her on a website called Ladies Exposed. The images included photo collages that were edited to make her appear nude or semi-nude, the complaint said.
They also included her driver’s license photo, her phone number, email address, home address and her professional information, according to the affidavit.
Other people saw the postings and contacted her, the complaint said. At least two emails contained threats to distribute photos to her co-workers and students if she didn’t meet certain conditions, including a demand that she send sexually explicit pictures to the suspect.
He allegedly created vulgar Twitter accounts with images of her that FBI cyber experts traced to a Google email account, which had a recovery phone number that Google would use if it detected unusual activity in the account, the complaint said.
AT&T traced the phone number to Florence, the complaint said.
Investigators also traced the IP addresses accessed to log into various accounts used to harass the victim, the affidavit said.
Federal search warrants for Florence’s email accounts turned up bookmarked websites advertising photo editing services used to create sexually explicit images, according to the complaint.
Investigators also found 30 Google searches associated with the victim, and Google map queries of the victim’s home address, the complaint said.
In May 2023, her personal information was listed on Doxbin, a site used for doxing— that is, publicly providing information about an person without their consent with the primary objective to humiliate, bully, harass, extort or otherwise harm the victim, the complaint said.
Florence’s federal defender, Jessica Thrall, could not be reached for comment.
If convicted, Florence faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.