ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that William Robert Rosica, 51, of Irondequoit NY, who was convicted of cyberstalking and computer intrusion, was sentenced to 60 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, by Chief U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. For the first year of supervised release, the defendant will be on home detention. Judge Geraci also ordered Rosica to pay restitution to the victim totaling $2,215.76.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig R. Gestring, who handled the case, stated that between February 2016, and March 2017, the defendant, a former Irondequoit Police Officer, subjected the victim to a relentless campaign directed toward threatening and psychologically torturing his victim and injuring, harassing, and intimidating her. Rosica used direct, indirect, and digital surveillance in a focused campaign of online abuse, physical stalking, and harassment aimed at destroying the victim’s life.
The defendant created multiple fictitious email accounts and sent hundreds of harassing emails and text messages to the victim, her family, and her employer. During this time, Rosica also directed and used other people to conduct physical surveillance of the victim and her family, which included people driving by the victim’s home and place of employment and reporting their observations back to Rosica who then used the information to harass the victim. The defendant improperly used his position as a police officer to access law enforcement databases and other restricted online systems in order to obtain information on the victim and her family. Other harassing behaviors included:
· anonymous emails and text messages directing and instructing the victim to commit suicide;
· unlawfully accessing and attempting to access the victim’s cellular phone online account and attempting to reset the victim’s password;
· unlawfully accessing and attempting to access the victim’s work email and voicemail accounts on several hundred occasions;
· unlawfully accessing and attempting to access the victims’s Walgreens Pharmacy and University of Rochester MyChart health care account on multiple occasions; and
· unlawfully accessing and attempting to access the victim’s Time Warner Cable online account on multiple occasions. Rosica also unlawfully accessed the Time Warner Cable account of the victim’s family.
Following his arrest, the defendant made materially false statements to FBI Agents. In addition, the investigation identified several other victims who were subjected to similar physical and digital harassment over several years before he started stalking the victim. As part of the investigation, the FBI conducted extensive electronic and physical surveillance during which they identified Rosica driving by the victim’s home on multiple occasions in various vehicles while attempting to disguise himself from detection. They also obtained footage of the defendant buying some of the items he used to harass the victim, including pay-as-you-go credit cards. Rosica was also captured on audio recordings and digital chats trying to access the victim’s online accounts. The defendant commenced his nearly year-long campaign to harass and torment the victim after she ended their three-year relationship in February 2016.
“The badge worn on the chest of law enforcement officers in our country serves as a gleaming reminder of the many virtues, such as bravery, honor, and duty, found within the hearts they cover,” noted U.S. Attorney Kennedy. “In this case, however, Rosica hid behind his badge and used it to cover the cruel cowardice which existed within his depraved heart. The maximum sentence imposed by the Court was richly deserved.”
"In an ironic and satisfying way, law enforcement identified, arrested, and removed William Rosica from living and working in our community using the same type of techniques he used to sadistically stalk and surveille his victims," said FBI Buffalo Division's Assistant Special Agent in Charge Philip E. Frigm, Jr. "The FBI's Cyber Task Force and its partners conducted this investigation because stalking is no longer only a crime committed by people who physically follow and track their victims. And, today's sentencing proves that cyber stalking -- especially through intrusions as was done in this case -- is no less sinister or frightening."
Today’s sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Adam S. Cohen, and New York State Police under the direction of Major Richard Allen.
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