A man in California has made the life of a police officer a living hell by harassing him, hacking his personal computer’s camera, and blackmailing him and his wife, all because the cop gave him a ticket for jaywalking.

After a relentless campaign of “hate and revenge,” the Fresno cop has filed a lawsuit against the man, identified as John Christopher Spatafore, and against Community Regional Medical Center, the hospital for which the man worked.

The dramatic series of events began on Oct. 25, 2019, at about 2 p.m. after 55-year-old John was caught illegally crossing the street in downtown Fresno near Fresno City Hall and the railroad tracks.

The cop on duty at the time stopped the perpetrator and presented him with a ticket for jaywalking, according to The Fresno Bee.

John Christopher Spatafore was issued a jaywalking ticket by a Fresno police officer, who was then targeted in a revenge plot

Image credits: tevenet tevenet via Pixabay (Representational image)

Even though the accused was described as “extremely confrontational” during the questioning, the man accepted the ticket and went on his way. But what followed was a series of disturbing events.

John, who worked in the information technology department of the hospital, began executing a ruthless revenge plan against the law enforcement officer. The IT professional began attempting to hack the cop’s email account, leading to the officer receiving password reset codes over the next several days.

Eventually, the plaintiff began receiving phone calls, emails, and text messages from random car dealers, solar companies and retailers, according to details included in the lawsuit.

The calls from the various businesses came in response to information requests that the targeted cop never made. His personal phone was bombarded with 100 texts on one single day.

The law enforcement officer has filed a lawsuit against John for his “vindictive attacks”

A cop gave Fresno man a jaywalking ticket. Then came ‘campaign of hate and revenge’ https://t.co/FI3hfOocbo pic.twitter.com/uUv6zJZMiZ

— heba lissa (@heba_lissa) May 26, 2024

“Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, and Maserati dealerships started to deluge [the officer] with calls ‘responding to your request’ concerning online orders and online inquiries that John never made,“ according to the lawsuit. “Further, there were also indications of attempted intrusion into Plaintiffs’ wireless internet which suggested that Spatafore lurked outside Plaintiffs’ home at all hours of the day and night to hack into Plaintiffs’ wireless internet and was within the short radius of the wireless internet’s reach.”

Matters became worse after the perpetrator filed a false police report accusing the officer of being involved in a hit-and-run incident.

“Police motorcycle riding on sidewalk without lights or sirens. Appeared intoxicated on drugs all while laughing aloud,” read a portion of the police reporter.

John’s false complaints sparked an investigation, which led to officials concluding that such an incident did not happen. When investigators checked the origins of the online report, they found that the fake allegations were tied to John’s IP address at the hospital he worked at.

The cyber attacker’s harassment did not end there as he filed another false report, this time claiming that the cop’s wife was being subjected to domestic violence at home. Although the second complaint was also proved to be false by investigators, the incident still affected the wellbeing of the plaintiff and his wife.

The lawsuit called the false reports of domestic violence “humiliating” as it spread in the community as well as in the Fresno Police Department. The couple “have been humiliated and forced and compelled to refute defamatory claims,” read the lawsuit.

The alleged harasser sent a message to the officer about hacking his computer’s camera and threatened to leak compromising videos of him and his wife

Image credits: Kevin Ku via Pexels (Representational image)

John’s “vindictive attacks” also included sending a personal message to the couple about their personal computer’s camera being hacked. He also blackmailed them, saying the hacker had videos of them that he would leak unless they met his demands.

“I require your 100% attention for the up coming 24hours, or will certainly make sure you live out of guilt for the rest of your life span…I know nearly everything about you … ” the lawsuit quoted John’s alleged message.

The defendant was arrested on Nov. 21, 2019, about a month after the harassment began. The police pulled him over within a mile of the plaintiff’s house and found in the vehicle a loaded .38 caliber revolver, which John did not have a license to carry and also denied being the owner of.

The alleged harasser was fired from the hospital the very same day after it was discovered that he used their computer and equipment to execute his plot of revenge.

The criminal case against John was dropped, but he is now the subject of a lawsuit filed by the law enforcement official

Image credits: Kindel Media via Pexels (Representational image)

The IT professional’s actions were called a “cyber campaign of hate and revenge” against the officer, his wife and daughter, according to the cop’s lawyer, Brian Whelan.

In addition to a restraining order issued against him, John faced charges of two counts of unauthorized use of personal identifying Information, one count of having a concealed firearm in a vehicle, one misdemeanor count of receiving stolen property and one misdemeanor count of making a false report. However, the criminal case against him was dropped after his lawyer managed to admit him into a mental health diversion program.

The targeted officer is now seeking at least $5.5 million each for himself, his wife and daughter as he sues the defendant and the hospital for invasion of privacy, negligent infliction of emotional distress, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent supervision of an employee.

Following the outcome of a pre-trial discovery conference on June 6, a trial could take place this year.

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