United States of America v. Gabryele “Gabby” Watson

Nashville, Tennessee, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with cyberstalking and interstate communications containing a threat to injure.

Reported by Kent Morlan

From May to June 2023, Gabryele “Gabby” Watson cyberstalked a married couple living in the Middle District of Tennessee, who had been trying to adopt a baby for eight years. She assumed the identity of a real 16-year-old in Pennsylvania who was pregnant (Minor Victim 1), obtaining accurate details about Minor Victim 1 and her pregnancy from Minor Victim 1’s social media posts. These included Minor Victim 1’s full name and nickname, her date of birth, her home state, the full name and nickname of Minor Victim 1’s teenaged boyfriend, who was also the baby’s father (Individual A), and details about, and photographs and video recordings depicting, Minor Victim 1’s pregnancy. She obtained photographs and video recordings of Minor Victim 1 and Individual A, including a series of “baby bump” photographs and videos of Minor Victim 1 displaying her pregnant belly at various stages of development. She also obtained sonogram photographs and videos of Minor Victim 1 and Individual A’s unborn baby at various stages of development. Over the next several months, as Minor Victim 1 posted new content on her social media accounts, Watson copied that new content for continued use in her scheme.

Posing as Minor Victim 1 and using Minor Victim 1’s real nickname, Watson contacted Victim One online, initially through her social media adoption page and then later through spoofed text messages, spoofed voice phone calls, and e-mail messages using an account the defendant created in Minor Victim 1’s name. In their early conversations, the defendant claimed that she was 16 years old, was facing an unplanned pregnancy, and wanted to give her baby up for adoption. She shared detailed information about her (really, Minor Victim 1) life and elicited similar personal information from Victim One. Watson shared photographs of sonographs of Minor Victim 1’s unborn baby, and repeatedly assured Victim One and Victim Two (Victim One’s husband) that they were going to adopt her baby and encouraged them to share their good news with others. Over time, Watson began to demand that Victims One and Two be available at all hours to respond to her frequent communications and that they purchase baby-related gear and maternity clothing. Watson also repeatedly threatened to cancel the adoption, claimed that “her” baby suffered from various life-threatening health emergencies, and pretended to being stalked and to have disappeared from home. Watson also threatened to abort or injure the unborn baby or to commit suicide while pregnant. Finally, she threatened to kill Victims One and Two.

Watson engaged in the same disturbing conduct with Victims Three and Four, another married couple living in the Middle District of Tennessee, when she pretended to be a pregnant 18-year-old living in Arkansas (Victim Five). This time, Watson pretended to be pregnant with high-risk twins. She also communicated on speaker phone with Victim Three and Four’s two young sons and encouraged them to be excited about the adoption. She made similar claims about “her” unborn babies’ health, was verbally abusive to Victim Three, and threatened to kill Victims Three and Four and their children.

Following her term of incarceration, Watson will be on supervised release for three years.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Nashville Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Monica R. Morrison prosecuted the case with the assistance of the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS).

Plea of guilty to Counts 1 through 8 of the Second Superseding Indictment. Imprisonment for a term of 20 months on Counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, concurrently with each other. Remanded to custody. Supervised release, with conditions, for a term of 3 years on Counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, concurrently with each other. $800 special assessment. Forfeit the iPhone 14 Plus (serial number MyJ5JXQ9P9).