Arrested Los Angeles stalker has ties to Middle District of Georgia

LOS ANGELES — A San Fernando Valley man has pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges, including cyberstalking two sisters by sending them text messages that threatened them with rape and murder.

Alex Scott Roberts, 27, of Chatsworth, pleaded guilty to one count of stalking and, in a separate case brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Macon but transferred to Los Angeles, he also pleaded guilty to one count of cyberstalking.

According to his plea agreement, in July and August of 2020, Roberts used text messages and internet communications to place the two victims “in reasonable fear of death and serious bodily injury,” and that he intended to cause “substantial emotional distress.”

After being told by Victim 1 and her family that the woman did not want to communicate with Roberts, he created a listing on Craigslist that offered a room for rent at Victim 1’s home and invited prospective renters to “Stop by anytime.”

Roberts later sent anonymous text messages to a friend of Victim 1 that demanded Victim 1’s phone number, threatened to publish nude photographs of Victim 1, and threatened to send someone to rape Victim 1.

On Aug. 12, 2020, Roberts sent a threatening message to Victim 1’s sister, which read, in part, “think I’m joking watch u will see. but then again u won’t be alive to see. I have a sniper at the window shall I shoot … respond or I shoot.”

In a separate criminal case first brought in the Middle District of Georgia, Roberts admitted in his plea agreement that in June 2020 he sent a series of threatening and harassing messages to a 15-year-old girl, Minor 1.

In the messages, Roberts claimed to possess nude images of Minor 1 and threatened to send the images to her parents as “payback” if she did not send him additional nude images. In response to Roberts’ threats sent via text message and Instagram, Minor 1 sent Roberts “selfie” photographs of herself.

Roberts responded by continuing to send Minor 1 harassing messages, including several messages containing edited versions of the “selfie” photographs Minor 1 had sent to him in response to his threats.

United States District Judge André Birotte Jr. scheduled a Dec. 16 sentencing hearing, at which time Roberts will face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each count.

The FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation investigated these matters. Assistant United States Attorney Lauren Restrepo of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section is prosecuting these cases in the Central District of California.

Assistant United States Attorney C. Shanelle Booker originally prosecuted the criminal case first brought in the Middle District of Georgia and continues to provide substantial assistance.

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