A Navy captain and former commanding officer of the dock landing ship Pearl Harbor has been charged in federal court with cyberstalking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prosecutors allege that Capt. Theodore E. Essenfeld, 51, started fake social media accounts using his civilian ex-girlfriend\u2019s name and images, and posted erotic photos and videos of the woman that she had privately shared with him during their relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One album he allegedly posted to a fake Facebook page pretending to be the woman was entitled \u201cbedroom fun,\u201d according to the indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Essenfeld is currently assigned to Expeditionary Strike Group 3 in San Diego and remains in place there, officials with the unit\u2019s parent command, U.S. 3rd Fleet, said Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The civilian attorney listed in court records as Essenfeld\u2019s counsel did not reply to a request for comment by Navy Times\u2019 deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the Feb. 2 indictment, over an 18-month period Essenfeld started fake Facebook, LinkedIn, email and cell phone accounts using the woman\u2019s name and photographs without her knowledge or consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The captain also used the fake Facebook account on the platform\u2019s dating site and made the fake LinkedIn profile list the woman\u2019s job as \u201cprofessional pole dancer,\u201d according to authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo stimulate engagement on Facebook\u2019s Dating site, defendant Essenfeld \u2018liked\u2019 dating profiles of other Facebook users and posted images and messages falsely purporting to be from\u201d the victim, who is not identified in the indictment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He linked the bogus Facebook account to people and organizations that the victim knew, including her employer and alma mater, the indictment alleges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Essenfeld and the woman began dating in 2018 and broke up in 2021, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prior-enlisted surface warfare officer has been a staffer with ESG 3 since August, and was the commanding officer of Pearl Harbor from 2015 to 2018, according to his service record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If convicted on the cyberstalking charge, Essenfeld faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you or someone you know has been the victim of cyberstalking by an active-duty servicemember, call the Department of Defense Hotline at 800-4240-9098.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prosecutors allege that Capt. Theodore E. Essenfeld started fake social media accounts using his civilian ex-girlfriend\u2019s name and images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":81061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":88,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[29,116,15,88],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3487],"class_list":["post-73942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-your-military"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"LRRULUTJYBDMFJDSNONGMSUAAM","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-navy\/2023\/02\/08\/feds-charge-navy-captain-with-cyberstalking\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n