GREENSBORO, N. C. - An Arizona man was sentenced to 30 months in prison for communicating interstate threats, announced United States Attorney Ripley Rand.
Aaron Jerome Khan, 27, of Tucson, Arizona, pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2014, to one count of interstate communication of a threat with intent to injure, an offense punishable by a maximum of 5 years imprisonment. He was sentenced on May 12, 2015, by the Honorable Catherine C. Eagles to 30 months imprisonment followed by 3 years supervised release.
Khan made threatening communications to the victim, a person with whom Khan had had a dating relationship while they both lived in Arizona, by sending numerous e-mail and text messages to the victim between December 2011 and October 2014. After the dating relationship ended, the victim obtained a no-contact order in Arizona and later began attending school in North Carolina. Khan continued to send the victim harassing messages via email and text message, which she first reported to campus security officials on December 9, 2011. Campus security officers contacted Khan to ask him to stop sending the victim messages; Khan said he would do so, but he continued to harass the victim with messages, including threats to kill the victim. In some messages, Khan included images of handguns. After Khan found out that the victim was attending school in North Carolina, he told the victim that that he was coming to North Carolina to see her. Airline records show that Khan flew to Raleigh on Oct. 2, 2014. While traveling to North Carolina, Khan repeatedly texted and emailed the victim of his intention to find her. The victim notified the police, and Khan was arrested on state cyberstalking charges upon his arrival in North Carolina.
“No one deserves to be subjected to this kind of deplorable behavior, and our office will not tolerate violence against intimate partners," said United States Attorney Rand. “We will continue to work effectively with our federal, state, and local partners to hold abusers accountable for their criminal acts and to help domestic violence victims take their lives back."
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anand P. Ramaswamy and investigated by the Town of Chapel Hill Police Department and by the University of North Carolina Department of Public Safety.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
