BOSTON – A former college track coach was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for creating fake social media and email accounts in an attempt to trick women, including some he coached, into sending him photos of themselves. naked or semi-naked.
Steve Waithe, who trained at Northeastern University in Boston, Penn State University, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Tennessee and Concordia University in Chicago, pleaded guilty last year to 12 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and one count of computer fraud, prosecutors said.
Waithe, 31, also pleaded guilty to cyberstalking a victim through text messages and direct messages sent over social media, as well as hacking her Snapchat account, prosecutors said.
“These were not just victims who lost some money. These were people who lost their privacy, their sense of security and the destruction of their trust,” said Judge Patti Saris. “Many of them cared about you, Mr. Waithe, and you broke their hearts. It was very much a breach of trust.”
Prosecutors said Waithe “left behind a devastating path littered with literally dozens of victims” and have asked that he be jailed for 84 months, including the 17 months he has already served since his arrest, along with 36 months of supervised release. He was accused of obtaining photographs from more than 50 victims and attempting to obtain them from 72 others.
“For many of the victims in this case, Steve Waithe presented himself as a coach and mentor they could identify with. For other victims, he was a co-worker or a random acquaintance. For others, he was considered a childhood friend.” , prosecutors wrote. “However, at the time of his arrest in April 2021, Steve Waithe was to all of these women only one thing: a predator bent on exploiting their position and his relationships for his own pleasure.”
Half a dozen of his victims spoke at the sentencing, some using their first names and many appearing on the verge of tears.
Many spoke of how Waithe gained their trust with praise and manipulated them into gaining access to their phones or asking them to send her inappropriate photos under the guise of an investigation. The entire experience left many anxious and fearful that these images would continue to appear on the Internet and possibly disrupt or derail their personal and professional lives.
They demanded that the court give Waithe the harshest sentence possible.
“He was willing to violate university rules. He was willing to violate the conditions of release,” one victim said, noting that his behavior continued after his initial arrest. “I don't think even after he gets out he's going to stop. Honestly, I'm begging you to give him as much time as possible.”
Addressing the victims, Weithe, bearded and composed, apologized and asked the court to give him a fair sentence. His father and his brothers were in court watching the proceedings. He also spoke about his mental health issues, including anxiety and depression.
“I know that my words will not do justice in reversing the damage I caused,” he said. “Listening to your statements today has impacted me more than any incarceration… There is no way to put into words how impactful my actions were and will continue to be on your lives. I understand the life I had and the life I wasted and the severity of my actions “
Waithe's lawyer, Jane Peachy, asked for a sentence of 27 to 33 months followed by three years of probation, saying the son of Trinidadian parents had accepted full responsibility for his actions. He was an All-American track athlete at Penn State.
He expressed his opposition to the final sentence and rejected several conditions upon his release, including not training or mentoring women or girls or receiving or requesting inappropriate photographs of girls or women.
“Nothing in our sentencing recommendation is intended to minimize the crimes committed by Mr. Waithe,” Peachy said. “It's not a free pass. It's not a condonation of his behavior in any way… It's the sentence the law requires.”
While he was a track coach at Northeastern, Waithe requested female student-athletes' cell phones under the guise of filming them at practices and competitions, but instead surreptitiously sent himself explicit photos of the women that had previously been saved. on their phones, according to prosecutors. .
Prosecutors said that starting in February 2020, Waithe used fake social media accounts to contact women, saying she had found compromising photos of them online. She would then offer to help the women delete the photos, asking them to send her additional nude or semi-nude photos that she could allegedly use for “reverse image searches,” prosecutors said.
Waithe also invented at least two female characters, “Katie Janovich” and “Kathryn Svoboda,” to obtain photographs of nude and semi-nude women under the purported premise of “athlete research” or a “body development” study, investigators said. .
He also joined sites that allowed him to connect with others to distribute the stolen images and exchange sets of images with other users.
