Here are five stalkers and cyberstalkers who received justifiably stiff punishments for their unwillingness to leave their victims alone. In my opinion, stalking convictions should carry much heavier consequences than most laws (and contemporary culture) currently allow. But there’s plenty of room within the existing system to hold offenders to a higher degree of accountability than is customary, and I’m thankful to judges who are willing to break from the overly lenient status quo for the sake of applying more appropriate stalking sentences.
5. Russell Martini – Bay Shore, NY
Forty-seven-year-old Russell Martini of Bay Shore, Long Island will spend the majority of the next 15 years in federal prison following his September 2024 conviction for cyberstalking. Over a two-month period in 2022, Martini harassed and threatened a North Carolina woman and her family online in violation of a protective order that the victim, “Jane Doe,” had obtained against him.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Martini created a fake social media profile using Jane Doe’s information and a compromising photo. He threatened to publish the woman’s intimate photos and videos if she refused to respond to his messages and bombarded her with emails containing death threats and threats of physical harm.
Martini’s cyberstalking eventually transitioned into actual, physical stalking when he travelled to Charlotte and tried to abduct Jane Doe. He ambushed the victim at her apartment complex and tried forcing her into his car; thankfully, an onlooker stepped in to prevent that from happening and Martini fled the scene. Shortly thereafter, he sent the woman an email asking if she was ready for “round two.”
Surprise, Surprise: This isn’t Martini’s first stalking rodeo.
Martini reportedly has a lengthy criminal history, including an established pattern of stalking behaviour and a previous stalking conviction from a separate case. He has failed to comply with past probation sentences, further demonstrating that he’s a danger to society and deserves a heavy-handed prison term.
In September 2023, Martini pleaded guilty to federal charges of stalking and making interstate threats. He’s serving his sentence at the high-security United States Penitentiary (USP) Canaan in Waymart, Pennsylvania. And because there’s no parole and very limited “good time” in the federal prison system, Jane Doe can rest assured that Martini will remain behind bars for at least the next 10 years.
4. Craig Gillies – Essex, UK
Forty-eight-year-old Craig Gillies spent more than half of 2024 trying to gain access to his victim’s home in the English town of Dunmow, where he repeatedly showed up despite being unwelcome at the property. His stalking escalated to physical violence in late August, when he assaulted and strangled the target of his obsession. He also tried to prevent the victim from calling the police and threatened to kill her.
Thankfully, the woman survived, and Gillies was remanded without bail on charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, threats to kill, threats with a bladed article, and intentional strangulation. He initially pleaded not guilty to the charges but eventually changed his mind and admitted to the crimes. The judge sentenced him to 27 months in prison and issued a 20-year restraining order banning him from contacting or going anywhere near his victim.
3. Paul Thomas Bleuel – Beaumont, TX
After testing the FAFO method to its limit one too many times, 25-year-old Paul Thomas Bleuel was sent to prison for cutting off his ankle bracelet and heading toward his victim’s home. He had been convicted of stalking an out-of-state acquaintance back in 2018 and was reportedly doing well on probation until the summer of 2023, when he removed his GPS monitor and fled Jefferson County.
Fearing that Bleuel was en route to his victim’s house, authorities notified the person immediately. In the meantime, licence plate readers tracked Bleuel’s car as he made a beeline toward the victim’s location.
Following his capture, Bleuel claimed that he had driven in a random direction, but the judge didn’t buy it. In fact, she said that she wished she could impose a stronger punishment than the law allowed for the sake of giving the victim some peace. She sentenced Bleuel to 10 years in prison with credit for time served. Under Texas law, he’ll become eligible for parole after serving roughly one-third of his term. Records list a projected release date of October 2025.
2. Erich Bennett – Sea Bright, NJ
Over a several-month period starting in October 2022, 47-year-old Erich Bennett terrorised a woman who had recently ended their nine-week relationship (yes, nine weeks). Apparently unwilling to accept the break-up, he subjected the victim to an array of terrifying behaviours, including threats of genital mutilation and constant online harassment. He also keyed the woman’s car, slashed her tires, disabled her home security camera, and obsessively drove past her residence.
Additionally, Bennett used a police database that he had access to through his job as a Sea Bright, New Jersey cop to illegally look up the victim’s information. He also researched the woman’s friends, family, and men he was jealous of.
In addition to the financial costs of repairing her car and moving, Bennett’s ex-girlfriend endured the exasperating cycle of trying to maintain her privacy on social media, where Bennett targeted her using fake profiles after she blocked him. And after no longer feeling safe in their own home, she and her children were relegated to couch-surfing between the homes of friends and relatives.
Arrested, But Not Over
Bennett was arrested for stalking in January of 2023, but the situation was far from over. He convinced the judge overseeing his case to release him from custody so he could attend rehab in Florida, and perhaps not surprisingly, he violated a protective order which strictly banned him from contacting the victim. Thankfully, the judge took appropriate action and remanded him back into custody for the duration of his case.
In September 2023, Bennett pleaded guilty to stalking, computer theft, criminal mischief, and hindering his own apprehension. During his sentencing hearing, he told the court that he was experiencing a complete mental breakdown during his stalking spell. His defence attorney urged the judge to release him, arguing that Bennett had served enough jail time during the six months he spent in pretrial detention. But the judge apparently disagreed and sentenced him to five years, and although he’s unfortunately out on parole after serving just a fraction of his sentence, he’ll remain under supervision until January of 2027.
1. Mark Holland – Independence County, AR
During her employment at an Independence County, Arkansas gas station, Skylar Galloway became acquainted with the business owner’s brother, Mark Eugene Holland, who was working as a state trooper at the time. Their interactions seemed platonic and normal, and Galloway remained on good terms with the family after changing jobs.
About a month after starting at a new job in 2016, however, she began receiving anonymous emails and letters demanding explicit photos. The sender wrote that he would get what he wanted, even if Galloway refused to send the images willingly. He even threatened to go to Galloway’s home and snap the photos himself, at times implying that he would use physical force.
The stalking took a debilitating toll on Galloway’s mental health.
The unwanted correspondence became increasingly disturbing over time and grew to include physical letters and messages to Galloway’s husband. In the messages, the sender expressed his infatuation with Galloway while ignoring her repeated requests to be left alone.
Galloway’s mental health suffered greatly due to the stalking, which caused her to feel suicidal at times. But she knew she deserved to get her life back and that her stalker deserved to be held accountable for his actions, and she resolved to make both of these things happen.
Galloway reported the harassing messages to law enforcement, but without any obvious clues pointing to the sender’s identity, they were unwilling to investigate. Left with no other choice, she made it her mission to identify her stalker on her own.
From Longtime Cop to Convicted Creep
In late 2019, after being bombarded with disturbing emails and letters for three years, Galloway realised that Holland was behind the correspondence and shared her findings with the police. Five days later, Holland was arrested by his own agency. He was charged with 20 felonies, including stalking, terroristic threatening, and 18 counts of misusing the Arkansas Crime Information Center records.
After 19 years on the force, Holland resigned from his job almost immediately after the allegations came to light. In September 2021, he pleaded guilty to one count each of stalking, misuse of the Arkansas Crime Information Center records, and misdemeanor terroristic threatening. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with the possibility of parole after serving roughly one-third of his sentence and no longer appears to be in state custody, indicating that he’s most likely under supervision.
After enduring the anguish that comes with being stalked, Galloway wanted other victims to know that there’s hope. She did this by sharing her experience in a memoir called Thrillsought, which is available on Amazon.