San Diego County News

Independent publication serving San Diego County

  • Local
    • Central San Diego
    • North County
    • East County
    • South Bay
    • Northeastern
    • Temecula
  • Entertainment
    • Music
    • Television
    • Art
    • Theater
    • Film
    • Events
    • Theme Parks
    • Podcast/Radio
    • Museums
    • Books
  • Business
  • National
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Health
    • Health Business
    • Health Education
    • Medical
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
    • Food
    • Lifestyle
    • Senior Life
    • Society
  • Commentary
  • Home

Maryland Man Arrested For Cyberstalking Man With Epilepsy

March 20, 2017 By sdcnews

WASHINGTON–A Maryland man was arrested March 17 on a federal criminal complaint charging him with cyberstalking a Dallas, Texas resident, federal authorities report.

John Rayne Rivello, 29, of Salisbury, Maryland, was arrested in Maryland on a criminal complaint filed in the Northern District of Texas. The complaint was unsealed following his initial appearance in the District of Maryland.

According to the allegations in the affidavit filed with the complaint, on Dec. 15, 2016, the victim, who is known to suffer from epilepsy, received a message via Twitter from Rivello. The tweet contained an animated strobe image embedded with the statement, “You deserve a seizure for your post.”  Upon viewing the flashing strobe image the victim immediately suffered a seizure.

Additionally, according to the affidavit, evidence received pursuant to a search warrant showed Rivello’s Twitter account contained direct messages from Rivello’s account to other Twitter users concerning the victim.  Among those direct messages included statements by Rivello, including “I hope this sends him into a seizure,” “Spammed this at [victim] let’s see if he dies,” and “I know he has epilepsy.”

Trending
Man suspected of stabbing parents arrested in Vista

Additional evidence received pursuant to a search warrant showed Rivello’s iCloud account contained a screenshot of a Wikipedia page for the victim, which had been altered to show a fake obituary with the date of death listed as Dec. 16, 2016. Rivello’s iCloud account also contained screen shots from epilepsy.com with a list of commonly reported epilepsy seizure triggers and from dallasobserver.com discussing the victim’s report to the Dallas Police Department and his attempt to identify the Twitter user.

40

SHARES
Share on Facebook
Tweet
Follow us

Comments

comments

Filed Under: National Tagged With: National


Support Independent Journalism



Environment

EPA proposes to strengthen air quality standards

January 7, 2023 By sdcnews

Science & Technology

Little rodent, big appetite

December 22, 2022 By sdcnews

Advertisement

Start planning your Travel Tuesday getaway! Just enter code TRAVELT35 for up to $35 off our fees on flights and be ready to take off.

Trending

School Sports

Animal News

Helen Woodward Animal Center meets UN Council

December 22, 2022 By sdcnews

Community Events

Things To Do

Categories

  • About Us
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Private Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Things To Do

Follow @SanCounty

Privacy Policy

Terms of service

Copyright © 2023 San Diego County News