Jayne A. Hitchcock, president of WHOA (Working to Halt Online Abuse) at www.haltabuse.org, received an early Christmas present on Thursday, December 6. Ursula Sprachmann and James Leonard (aka John Lawrence), who cyberstalked Hitchcock beginning in late 1996, were finally sentenced in federal court.
Leonard received the maximum sentence allowed eight months and three years of probation. Sprachman received three years probation due to her age and poor health. The two were also ordered to finish paying restitution of almost $2,000 to those writers they hadn’t paid from the New York Attorney General’s case, which was won in January 1999 (some writers received restitution this past summer). Hitchcock’s lawyer also made a handshake agreement to settle her civil suit against them.
"I am glad it finally appears to be over," Hitchcock said. "This wasn’t just a win for me, it’s a win for all writers and all online victims."
Hitchcock’s experience with cyberstalking led her to join WHOA. Now she travels the country training law enforcement how to track down cyberstalkers and help victims and getting cyberstalking laws passed. WHOA is an organization dedicated educating the Internet community about online harassment, empowering victims of harassment and formulating voluntary policies that systems administrators can adopt in order to create harassment-free environments.
Hitchcock, an author, will see her latest book, Net Crimes & Miscemeanors, released in March 2002, published by Cyberage Books.
