Man Guility Of Cyber Stalking: 4,000 Calls To 1,200 People

By Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter
The former human-resources manager at the Great Wolf Lodge in Thurston County has pleaded guilty to charges of cyber stalking for making more than 4,000 obscene and threatening phone calls to 1,200 different people in the United States and Canada.

Daniel Leonard, 32, of Olympia, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Tuesday and faces up to five years in prison when he's sentenced Dec. 3.

Leonard's crimes were first discovered by the Monterey, Calif., police in August 2009 when a woman reported receiving what the U.S. Attorney's Office described as "highly sexual and threatening phone calls." She said the caller ID showed several different numbers and area codes, but that the voice — which sounded altered in some fashion — was always the same.

The woman received calls at home and at work for several months, until police were able to track down a so-called telephone "spoofing service," which allows a caller to change or fake a caller ID number.

The company, Tel Tech, in New Jersey, said Leonard had used the service and provided records of all the calls he had made.

The records showed that Leonard had called hundreds of women, including one woman in his apartment complex in Olympia, who received 177 calls. The woman filed numerous police reports, saying she believed the caller could see inside her apartment when he was talking to her.

Investigators say Leonard often used a device that electronically altered his voice.

A federal search warrant revealed that some of the victims had worked with Leonard either at the Great Wolf Lodge, a resort outside Grand Mound, or when he worked in human resources at the Hotel Victor in Miami.

Federal prosecutors say many of the victims altered their lives. Some moved, others quit jobs and still others canceled their cellphone numbers, only to start receiving calls at work or home.

Source: The Seattle Times