{"id":156069,"date":"2021-04-07T13:24:50","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T17:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breaking911.com\/?p=156069"},"modified":"2021-04-07T13:26:01","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T17:26:01","slug":"former-northeastern-track-coach-arrested-accused-of-elaborate-nude-photo-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breaking911.com\/former-northeastern-track-coach-arrested-accused-of-elaborate-nude-photo-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Track Coach At Various Universities Arrested, Accused of Elaborate Nude Photo Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON \u2013 (DOJ)<\/em> – A former track and field coach at various universities was arrested and charged today in connection with a scheme to trick female student-athletes, through sham social media accounts, into sending him nude or semi-nude photos. The defendant also allegedly cyberstalked at least one female student-athlete.<\/p>\n

Steve Waithe, 28, of Chicago, Ill., was charged by criminal complaint with one count of cyberstalking and one count of wire fraud. Waithe was arrested today in Chicago and will make an initial appearance in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois this afternoon. He will appear in Boston at a later date.<\/p>\n

According to charging documents, Waithe was employed as a track and field coach at Northeastern University in Boston from October 2018 to February 2019. It is alleged that during that time, Waithe frequently requested to use female athletes\u2019 cellphones under the pretense of filming their form at practice and at meets. At times, he was observed \u201cscrolling through\u201d the phones.<\/p>\n

Beginning in at least February 2020, Waithe allegedly perpetrated a scheme to dupe female Northeastern University track and field athletes into sending him nude or semi-nude photos of themselves. Specifically, Waithe contacted the alleged victims through social media accounts, stated that he had found compromising photos of them online and offered to \u201chelp\u201d get the photos removed from the internet. Under this pretense, it is alleged that Waithe requested additional nude or semi-nude photos that he could purportedly use for \u201creverse image searches.\u201d He used various pseudonyms on social media including variations of the phrase \u201cPrivacy Protector,\u201d \u201cKatie Janovich,\u201d and \u201cAnon\u201d followed by various numbers.<\/p>\n

As detailed in court documents, from at least June 21, 2020 to Oct. 3, 2020, Waithe cyberstalked at least one female Northeastern student-athlete through messages sent via social media, an anonymized phone number and intrusion into her Snapchat account. The investigation revealed that internet search and browsing history tied to Waithe allegedly included searches for information on how to hack Snapchat accounts and visits to webpages with titles like, \u201cCan anyone trace my fake Instagram account back to me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the purported premise of an \u201cathlete research\u201d or \u201cbody development\u201d study, it is alleged that Waithe emailed prospective victims using the personas of \u201cKatie Janovich\u201d and\/or \u201cKathryn Svoboda.\u201d The emails described a phony study for athletes and requested information relating to height, weight and diet habits. The emails also included a request for the victims to send photos of themselves in a \u201cuniform or bathing suit to show as much skin as possible\u201d and suggested that the photos would not be shared or saved. The emails often included attachments of sample nude and semi-nude images of \u201cKatie\u201d to illustrate the types of photos that victims should send. According to court documents, investigators have identified more than 10 victims of the \u201cbody development study\u201d scheme and over 300 related nude and semi-nude images of victims of the scheme in Waithe\u2019s email accounts.<\/p>\n