Maryland man sentenced to prison for cyberstalking Ohio victims

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Maryland man was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 30 months in prison for cyberstalking victims in the Southern District of Ohio.

Vincent Brocoli, 33, of Essex, Md., was indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2019 and pleaded guilty in November 2019.

According to court documents, from August 2016 until April 2019, Brocoli (also known as Matthew Dehart, BunchMedia and BunchMarketing), cyberstalked a female victim and her parents by creating social media accounts in their names, sending them threats, and using the Internet to cause substantial emotional distress to their family.

Brocoli created social media accounts like @xokirstylies1, @xokirstyslut1 and @killyourselfkirsty, among others.

The defendant used the Internet to post photos of the victim with a cross on her forehead and send messages like “I hope you get cancer and die UGLY SLLUT [sic],” and “Go away and die. Just put a gun in your mouth and get it over with.”

Court documents also detail that, over the course of nearly three years, Brocoli used the Internet and multiple social media platforms to post threatening and sexually vulgar comments, calling the victim a “worthless lying slut” and a “whore.” Brocoli also used the Internet to post comments asserting that the victim and her husband had AIDS, like claiming that the victim “took [her husband]’s gay cum down her throat and now she has aids. Diseased whorebag.”

Brocoli posed as the victim’s father and mother online by creating multiple Instagram and Twitter handles using their names. He also used the Internet to post comments to the victim’s mother, calling her a “pedophile,” commenting that she needed “to be arrested for child abuse,” and telling her to “Shut up and die.” Brocoli further used the Internet to post to the victim’s father that he would “be the first to go to hell and answer to the real God when the time comes.”

David M. DeVillers, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Chris Hoffman, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, announced the sentence imposed Friday evening, July 24, by Chief U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley. Special Assistant United States Attorney Christopher N. St. Pierre represented the United States.