Police in Chicago have arrested a former keep track of and subject mentor for allegedly soliciting sexually specific illustrations or photos from female athletes under false pretenses.
Chicago resident Steve Waithe was arrested on April 7 and charged with 1 rely of wire fraud and just one depend of cyberstalking.
Waithe attended Loch Raven Substantial School, where by he was the Maryland State Champion in the triple soar. From 2014–15, the 28-calendar year-old competed on Penn State’s keep track of and field team.
Coaching positions at Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Tennessee followed, and in Oct 2018, Waithe started operating with athletes at Northeastern College. Nevertheless, Waithe was fired in February 2019 subsequent an investigation into “inappropriate carry out toward female student-athletes.”
According to the Section of Justice, “it is alleged that all through that time, Waithe commonly asked for to use female athletes’ cellphones below the pretense of filming their kind at apply and at satisfies. At periods, he was noticed ‘scrolling through’ the phones.”
In September 2019, Waithe acknowledged a new coaching situation at Concordia College Chicago, which lasted fewer than four months, according to the Related Push.
It is alleged that in February 2020, Waithe began making use of social media to call feminine Northeastern University track and industry athletes. After telling the women of all ages that he had learned compromising pics of them on line, Waithe allegedly available to enable remove the illustrations or photos from the internet.
Victims were allegedly tricked into sending Waithe nude or semi-nude shots so he could execute “reverse graphic queries.”
To disguise his identity on the internet, Waithe allegedly utilized a variety of pseudonyms, like variants of the phrase “Privacy Protector,” “Katie Janovich,” and “Anon.”
Waithe is further more accused of posing as a woman researcher to email woman athletes and inquire them for pictures of on their own nude or in swimwear for the uses of “athlete exploration” or “body growth analyze.”
According to court documents, investigators have determined extra than 10 victims of the phony research plan and identified over 300 similar nude and semi-nude illustrations or photos of victims in Waithe’s email accounts.
It is further more alleged that from at least June 21, 2020, to Oct 3, 2020, Waithe employed social media to cyberstalk at the very least one particular female Northeastern scholar-athlete and hacked into her Snapchat account.
Some parts of this article are sourced from:
www.infosecurity-magazine.com