United States of America v. Kevin Cruz

Chicago, Illinois criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with Cyberstalking Victim He Met Online

Suburban Chicago Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Cyberstalking Victim He Met Online

A suburban Chicago man has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for cyberstalking a victim he met on an online dating platform.



KEVIN CRUZ met the victim in 2021 on the dating application Grindr. While the pair communicated about a potential intimate relationship, the victim sent Cruz explicit photographs of himself. Cruz and the victim met in person on several occasions, but while Cruz expressed an interest in pursuing a romantic relationship, the victim did not.



From December 2021 to mid-2023, Cruz engaged in a course of harassing and intimidating conduct toward the victim. Cruz created numerous profiles on Grindr and other dating applications in which he impersonated the victim. Cruz, pretending to be the victim, arranged for men to travel to the victim's home for sexual encounters. In some instances, Cruz, pretending to be the victim, instructed the men to enter the victim's residence and attempt to have sex with the victim even if he resisted, as Cruz said the resistance would be part of a role-playing scenario. Numerous men arrived at the victim's residence seeking sex as a result of their communications with Cruz.



Cruz also sent the victim's explicit photographs to the victim's family members, including his mother, brother, and cousins. In a text message sent by Cruz to the victim's mother from a spoofed phone number, Cruz falsely suggested that the victim had committed suicide.



Cruz, 34, of Oak Park, Ill., pleaded guilty last year to a federal cyberstalking charge. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Steven C. Seeger on Wednesday ordered Cruz to pay $17,313.18 in restitution to the victim.



The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.



"Defendant's conduct shocks the conscience,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan L. Shih argued in the government's sentencing memorandum. "He created significant risks that the victim would be hurt, injured, and raped.”