Idaho man charged with cyberstalking Mass. professor after attending Zoom class one time
He is slated to face the same charge in federal court in Boston at a later date, the statement said.
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The class where Kay first encountered the professor was an online course on psychosis offered through a university extension program. The statement didn't identify the school, and Foley's office did not respond to the Globe's request for clarification Tuesday evening.
After attending one Zoom meeting and a single class session, Kay 'became fixated' on the professor, Foley's office said. He quickly dropped the course but continued sending her threatening messages through email and LinkedIn for the next five months.
'That day I saw you on Zoom… You were the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,' he allegedly wrote in one of the emails, dated April 1. 'Not just appearance. Everything. Your presence. Your mind. Your light. To gain you…and then to lose you like that? It devastated me."
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In later messages — some of which she received directly, others of which were sent to other university offices with her copied in — Kay urged the professor to leave the university, referenced her young child, and expressed a desire to separate her and her husband.
'You are still free. But you are not unreachable,' one email read, according to Foley's office. Another warned of 'action[s] of serious consequence... in accordance with divine alignment and institutional justice.'
'[This is only] the VERY BEGINNING... She knows what is coming,' Kay allegedly wrote.
On June 5, Kay allegedly emailed both the professor and the university president to announce he had bought a ticket to Boston's Logan Airport to attend an in-person negotiations class that summer. At that point, he was already barred from enrolling in any of the university's courses, according to the statement.
Airline records confirmed a July 11 booking under Kay's name. However, he never boarded the flight, the statement said.
Rita Chandler can be reached at
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