Sacramento County man pleads guilty to cyberstalking

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Michael Jameson Chand, 32, of Sacramento County, pleaded guilty today to cyberstalking, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, Chand intentionally engaged in a course of conduct intended to intimidate or harass the victim, Jane Doe, using a cell phone and the internet. This course of conduct caused Jane Doe significant emotional distress, in part because Chand had previously committed crimes against her. In 2017, Chand was convicted in California of misdemeanors including soliciting child sexual abuse material from Jane Doe, who was 15 at the time. Chand was sentenced to two years in prison for that conviction.

On December 23, 2019, while on parole, Chand made a public Facebook post under an alias, including Jane Doe’s full name, falsely claiming that she was in a relationship with a murderer and asking, “everyone please help me get her into a mental institution if you want her contact info let me know.” He then called her approximately 176 times between June and October 2020 and left 63 voicemail messages. Many of the voicemail messages contained insults and threats against Jane Doe and her family.

Additionally, Chand created multiple social media accounts, some under aliases, to contact and harass Jane Doe. Using such accounts, he posted messages publicly naming Jane Doe and saying things intended to harass and intimidate Jane Doe. For example, in a public Facebook post on August 5, Chand included Jane Doe’s full name, city and state of birth, and included a photo of her social media account, falsely claiming that “she murdered her ex (boyfriend).” He also falsely claimed that Jane Doe was planning to move in with a “rapist” and show him her “baby,” writing, “Please help me find a way to get the poor child away from her.”

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adrian T. Kinsella and Christina McCall are prosecuting the case.

Chand is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez on January 7, 2024. Chand faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. However, the actual sentence will be determined at the court’s discretion after considering all applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.