A Hagerstown-area man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly cyberstalking his ex-girlfriend, including 815 calls in 48 hours.
That’s the equivalent of at least 16 calls an hour.
Derik Wayne Bowers, 44, was indicted for stalking that included using social media to harass and intimidate his ex, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Northern District of West Virginia.
If found guilty, Bowers faces up to five years in prison.
The Morgan County, W.Va., woman was stalked via phone calls, texts and Facebook from September to at least Feb. 3, according to a copy of the indictment.
Report: He averaged 16 calls an hour
Bowers is accused of calling the woman 815 times over a 48-hour period in December. He also allegedly sent her thousands of harassing text messages over several months and “used social media posts to embarrass her and interfere with her livelihood,” the release states.
“Cyberstalking is a pervasive problem that we treat very seriously in West Virginia,” U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld said in the release. “I encourage those who are being intimidated online and who suffer substantial emotional distress as a result to file a police report so that wrongdoers may be investigated and held to account.”
The FBI and the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office investigated the cyberstalking case.