Mountain Brook Man Sentenced to Nearly Three Years in Prison for Cyberstalking Former Girlfriend and Associate of Hers

BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge today sentenced a Mountain Brook man to nearly three years in prison for cyberstalking, including threatening to kill, a former girlfriend and a second woman associated with her, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr.

U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre sentenced STEPHEN PARKS LEWIS, 32, to two years and nine months in prison on two counts of cyberstalking. Lewis pleaded guilty to the charges in January. Along with the prison sentence, Judge Bowdre ordered Lewis to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term. She prohibited him from any contact with his victims or their extended families during his supervised release, and ordered him to undergo in-patient treatment for drug and alcohol abuse during the first year of his release.

“Lewis used Facebook, emails, text messages and voicemails to harass and threaten a young woman who broke off an abusive relationship with him, and when he could no longer find her, he turned his cyberstalking and cruel threats on her family. He even threatened to kill the woman who was dating his victim’s brother, as well as the woman’s six-year-old child,” Town said. “Prison is the best destination for someone who methodically torments and terrifies his victims.”

“Lewis will now answer for his sustained and menacing cyberstalking,” Sharp said. “This prison sentence should send the message that the FBI and our partners will hold accountable those who would use modern communication methods to deliver threats and intimidation.”

According to court documents, Lewis’s threats to the woman who had ended their five-year dating relationship included claims that he would commit a mass shooting akin to the one in Las Vegas last year, in which 58 people were killed and more than 500 wounded, if she did not submit to his demands. His cyberstalking went on for at least 10 months in 2017 and he threatened his harassment would “continue forever.”

The second woman Lewis threatened and harassed was the girlfriend of his first victim’s brother. Lewis used Facebook and text messages to threaten her, including threats to stalk and kill her and her minor daughter.

Among Lewis’ often profane Facebook messages to his second victim, he demanded to know where he could find his former girlfriend. “I have your phone number. I have your address. I know where [Victim-1’s brother] lives. I know where you live,” he wrote, according to his plea agreement. “You tell me where she is. You tell me whats (sic) going on. Or I’m coming with a desert eagle .45.” Following that message, Lewis sent a photo of a Desert Eagle pistol to Victim 2.

The FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Mohammad Khatib prosecuted.