1,000+ Messages in a Month? Lubbock Man Pleads Guilty to Cyberstalking
A Lubbock man has pleaded guilty to cyberstalking his ex-girlfriend after it's said that he sent her over 1,000 messages in just a month's time.
34-year-old Christopher Gafford and the unnamed victim were dating from 2007 to 2015 and even had a child together. The victim says that throughout the relationship, Gafford was physically and emotionally abusive, and it apparently got worse after she became pregnant.
After eventually cutting off all contact with Gafford and even changing her phone number multiple times, he would still send thousands of messages. The victim says in 1 month he had sent her over 1,000 messages. Some of the messages included pornographic images and videos of Gafford himself.
The victim says that all of the messages she received were "violent, sexual, or religious with a threatening tone." KAMC News reports that one of them had Gafford threatening to "rip her parents' heads off and [defecate] down their necks." He allegedly also threatened to kill other family members.
Gafford was arrested in April of 2020 and pleaded guilty to cyberstalking in federal court on Thursday, June 30th. He now faces up to 5 years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 fine on top of the prison sentence.