Former Irondequoit Police Officer Pleads Guilty To Cyber Stalking His Ex-Girlfriend

CONTACT:      Barbara Burns
PHONE:         (716) 843-5817
FAX:            (716) 551-3051
 
ROCHESTER, N.Y.- Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that William Robert Rosica, 51, of Irondequoit NY, pleaded guilty to cyberstalking and computer intrusion before Chief U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
 
Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig R. Gestring, who is handling the case, stated that 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 plea 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.

Sentencing is scheduled for January 9, 2018, at 3:00 p.m. before Judge Geraci.