BOSTON: A former track-and-field coach at Northeastern University has admitted to charges involving the theft of nude photos from the cellphones of female athletes. Steve Waithe, 30, pleaded guilty in Boston federal court on Monday to wire fraud, cyberstalking, and computer fraud related to the scheme. He manipulated numerous young women into sending him compromising photos.
According to Assistant US Attorney Adam Deitch, Waithe’s scheme targeted at least 50 women. Deitch plans to seek a prison sentence of over three years and 10 months for Waithe.
Waithe worked at Northeastern from October 2018 to February 2019, until he was terminated. He had previously coached at Penn State University, Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Tennessee, and Concordia University Chicago.
While at Northeastern, Waithe asked female athletes to use their cellphones to record them during practices and meets, then secretly searched for photos of the women that he sent to himself.
After leaving the university, Waithe contacted six athletes via Instagram, claiming he found compromising photos of them online and offered to help remove them. He then sent the women nude or semi-nude photos that he had stolen and asked for additional ones to conduct “reverse image searches”.
Deitch stated that none of the women provided pictures, but with the assistance of a hacker, Waithe stole nude pictures from one of the Northeastern athletes’ Snapchat account and cyberstalked her.
Under false identities, Waithe also emailed women in several US states for a fake “body development” study and requested photos of them in a “uniform or bathing suit to show as much skin as possible”, according to prosecutors.
At least 17 women responded to his emails, sending him 350 nude or semi-nude photos, according to the indictment. US District Judge Patti Saris is scheduled to sentence Waithe on March 6, and many of the victims plan to attend.
Defense lawyer Jane Peachy argued that her client deserves as little as two years and three months under federal sentencing guidelines. Waithe, first charged in 2021, would receive credit for the 14 months he has already spent in custody. – Reuters
