DENVER (AP) -- maiden hours ago women marched along many U.S. cities can January, Christopher Cleary attitude off a manhunt when he posted a Facebook news threatening to murder "as many girls because I see" can retaliation because years of romantic rejection.
Cleary, 27, called himself a virgin who never had a girlfriend, stoking fears of another fatal rampage by a man blaming women because his problems. when police tracked his cellphone and arrested the Colorado inhabitant can a McDonald's restaurant can Provo, Utah, Cleary said he had been upset and wasn't thinking clearly.
The frightening Facebook mail agree a figure of direct because a troubled man with a history of terrorizing women he met above the internet.
His plea task with Utah prosecutors appears to agree a figure of lenient punishments — a normal consequence because cyberstalking and online harassment cases.
"The colossal majority of people, if there isn't a lot of habit and education going on, cultivate to liberate these things," said Carol Tracy, executive director of the Women's fundamental plot can Philadelphia. "That's why stalking is accordingly dangerous. You think, 'It's no a crime. He's got free speech.'"
Cleary pleaded criminal can April to a reduced scold of attempted peril of terrorism, a felony punishable by up to five years can prison. besides prosecutors agreed to propose probation, sparing him any additional limit time can Utah beyond the months he's served during his Jan. 19 arrest.
If a gather accepts the recommended sentence during a hearing Thursday can Provo, it won't be the first time Cleary avoids a jail term. Judges can Colorado gave him alike breaks after a rope of women and teenagers accused him of making threats and harassing them.
The prosecutor above the Utah example said the plea harmony is designed to earn a felony certainty that could assist Colorado authorities acquire a jail sentence because Cleary's probation violations.
Agreeing to propose probation was the key to securing his criminal plea, delegate Utah County lawyer Douglas Finch said.
Finch said Utah's criminal statutes desert a "huge gap" among a misdemeanor scold of threatening violence and a felony scold of making a peril of terrorism. He said his office views Cleary because an "unbelievably dangerous individual" besides wasn't certain it could prove the "stupid, horrible" news he posted above his Facebook interpret rose to the level of a terrorism threat.
"I did my magazine of the example with some task above the statutes," Finch said. "The question is that I feel (Cleary) falls accurate can the center of those two areas, besides most responsible he falls can the lowest level."
He noted the Utah gather is cottage free to sentence Cleary to prison.
At least eight nation during 2012 eat contacted authorities to scold Cleary of stalking or harassing them, according to an Associated review magazine of police and stadium records. Police can Colorado either investigated complaints that Cleary threatened to bomb a grocery department can 2013 after an employee refused to cash his check, threatened to slit the throat of a Denver city employee after his teach was towed, and threatened a mass shooting can a mad health facility during a phone summon can 2016.
Cleary was above probation because a marijuana certainty when, can 2016, he was charged with stalking two 18-year-old women he met online. He was above probation and can mad health stadium because the stalking cases when he was charged can 2017 with stalking and harassing a third female who was Cleary's caseworker. final year, judges can Jefferson County, Colorado, sentenced him to probation can full three stalking cases.
Cleary, a Denver resident, was cottage above probation can Jefferson County when he was arrested can Utah. Pam Russell, a spokeswoman because the county prosecutor's office, said once the Utah example has concluded, Cleary will be returned to Colorado and prosecutors will chase to revoke his probation and deliver Cleary to prison.
Cleary either has a justify because his arrest can Denver, where a 17-year-old told police can 2015 that he sent her a rope of threatening text messages, including "I hold multipul guns I can eat u dead can a second."
A public defender representing Cleary can Utah declined to comment. Cleary told the officer who arrested him can Provo that he has "some friendly of impulse disorder" and had been taking cure besides couldn't recolect what type, according to records. Earlier, a Colorado defense lawyer said can stadium that Cleary had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder.
The timing of Cleary's Utah arrest — above the second anniversary of the Women's March above Washington — and the language of his Facebook peril led to speculation above the internet and can some news reports that he could be an "incel," short because "involuntary celibate." The incel movement, an online subculture linked to fatal attacks can California, Toronto and Florida, promotes the misogynistic thought that men are entitled to eat sex with women.
"All I wanted was to be loved," Cleary wrote can his post, "yet none cares almost me I'm 27 years old and I've never had a girlfriend ago and I'm cottage a virgin, this is why I'm planning above shooting up a public lay shortly and being the next mass shooter effect I'm ready to die and full the girls the turned me down is going to compose it accurate by killing because many girls because I see."
A Colorado police detective who investigated two women's stalking accusations said he didn't discover any witness Cleary identified because an incel or had other ideological motives. "I really conceive he's impartial wired differently," Arvada Police Detective Michael Roemer said. And two of Cleary's accusers eat said they had a sexual relationship with him.
Experts said Cleary appears to be emblematic of how police and courts typically deal with cyberstalking and online harassment cases.
University of Maryland fundamental professor Danielle Citron, author of the book "Hate Crimes can Cyberspace," said condition criminal statutes outlawing such direct typically are misdemeanors with flash punishments that don't deter offenders. The criminal honesty system tends to advice online abuse because "no big deal," she said, and perpetrators acquire empathy nevertheless "we forget and erase the victims."
Bennet Kelley, a Santa Monica, California, attorney who represents victims of online abuse, said police turned away one of his clients, a revenge porn victim, level although California has one of the nation's strongest laws against revenge porn. "I've really had judges talk me they don't conduct internet stuff," he said. "One of them transferred the example pretty than task with it."
The sentencing can Cleary's Jefferson County, Colorado, example came can April 2018. He got three years' probation because stalking three women.
One victim, Hannah Keller, saw his mugshot above television after his Utah arrest. She said he harassed her with phone calls, text messages and Facebook posts above and off because nearly two years ago she eventually contacted police can 2015. "He didn't ever interpret a overlook because women when I was with him," she said. "I impartial concept he was messed up can general."
A second victim, Cleary's preceding caseworker, told police can 2017 that she had a sexual relationship with him besides tried to target it. She said Cleary made repeated death threats and created sham Craigslist ads soliciting sex and rape, using her phone amount and an hail within a block of her home.
During a hearing final year, Jefferson County gather Dennis Hall said he and a second gather struggled to mode strong sentences because Cleary's convictions. Hall said they ultimately decided a jail sentence "would impartial compose it full worse," according to a transcript.
"I'm obviously concerned almost the victim here ... besides my task is that I conceive to compose the community a better place, you need to be treated here," Hall told Cleary. "It won't conduct the community any good if I attitude you can jail and compose you worse."
Prosecutors had urged Hall to sentence Cleary to Community Corrections, a residential supervision and treatment program that's an prime to jail or probation.
Cleary told Hall he was "100% committed" to getting help. He said he was seeing a therapist and psychiatrist.
When the second gather asked Cleary how he planned to deal with frustrating situations, Cleary insisted he was getting better can controlling his anger. "Before when I got angry, I used to flip out and things used to impartial be the target of the world," he said, according to a transcript.
That judge, Jeffrey Pilkington, warned Cleary a jail sentence can be "the maiden option" if his probation was revoked again.
Victoria Lathrop is one of Cleary's earlier victims. She said he seemed alike a merry guy when they met online can 2015. They communicated because a little weeks by texts and Facetime. besides after she turned down his sexual advances, Cleary created a Facebook page using her title and a topless photo he apparently captured nevertheless she changed robe during a video chat. She said Cleary sent Facebook friend requests to her friends from the sham account.
Lathrop's ordeal didn't target when a gather sentenced Cleary to probation because harassing her can 2015. She kept hearing from him because years, from different numbers or online identities. Then, final year, he sent her the bare Facebook profile.
Lathrop called police again, besides she says they told her there was no manner to be definite it was him.
She wonders if authorities to eat taken her example more seriously.
"If he's accordingly continual stalking women and doing this stuff, I don't conceive that violence is past him," she told AP.
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Kunzelman reported from university Park, Maryland, Dale from Philadelphia, and Slevin from Denver.
