A Hyattsville man was found guilty Thursday of 73 counts of stalking, reckless endangerment, harassment and violation of a protective order after terrorizing his ex-wife and her children over the course of 45 days last year.
Michael Anthony Johnson, 32, faces a prison sentence of up to 115 years for repeatedly sending vulgar, threatening emails to his ex-wife telling her that he was going to rape and kill her and her daughters last summer.
Johnson also set up fake online profiles, claiming to be her, on Facebook, Craigslist, Blackplanet and other Internet sites, asking men to come to her house for sex and, in one posting, telling men to come to her house and rape her.
“He repeatedly smiled and laughed during this trial and had the audacity to take the stand and claim he had nothing to do with anything that happened to his ex-wife, despite insurmountable evidence against him,” said Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela D. Alsobrooks.
Johnson was arrested in late July 2012 after a search warrant was executed on his mother’s home, where he was living at the time. Authorities recovered his computer, complete with many of the emails he had sent to his ex-wife.
Johnson admitted that the email accounts where the emails to his ex-wife originated from were his and that no one else had access to the computer, but he maintained that he never sent the emails.
All of the fake postings and threatening emails to the victim stopped after Johnson was arrested.
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The jury convicted Johnson after deliberating for three hours. He was found guilty of one count of stalking, 10 counts of reckless endangerment, two counts of harassment, seven counts of harassment by electronic mail and 53 counts of violation of a protective order.
Johnson will be sentenced July 18.
