Newark Woman Arrested For Allegedly Cyberstalking Kris Jenner

NEWARK, CA — A Bay Area nurse's assistant was arrested today on federal cyberstalking and hacking charges for allegedly making telephonic and online threats against Kris Jenner and others in the Kardashian family matriarch's inner circle.

Christina Elizabeth Bankston, 36, was arrested at her Newark home and is expected to make her initial federal court appearance Friday in Oakland, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

She will eventually be brought to Los Angeles to face trial, prosecutors said.

Bankston was arrested on a 15-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury on July 26 and unsealed today.

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"The defendant's criminal conduct included hacking personal accounts, impersonating her victims, extortion and 'swatting,"' alleged Eileen M. Decker, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles. "Such conduct can put lives in danger, cause considerable stress and anxiety to victims, and consume considerable law enforcement resources to respond to the false emergency calls."

Most of the stalking and hacking took place anonymously over a six-month period in which harassing phone calls were placed and large numbers of text messages and emails were sent to "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" star Jenner, family members and assistants, according to court papers.

Prosecutors allege Bankston intended to cause substantial emotional distress.

"The defendant in this case went to great lengths to stalk and even impersonate her victims to concoct disturbing scenarios that could have put lives in danger," said Deirdre Fike, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office.

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According to the indictment, Bankston made multiple phone calls in which she impersonated Jenner, some of which involved false claims that the reality TV star had cancer and needed help, and one in which the defendant falsely told law enforcement that a Kardashian family member was attempting to commit suicide.

Bankston also allegedly sent numerous electronic messages to Jenner in which she claimed to have put tracking devices on the reality TV star's car; sent harassing and threatening texts to Caitlyn Jenner; and gained access to Kris Jenner's iCloud account, which allowed Bankston to impersonate Kris in text messages to Caitlyn and one of Kris' children, some of which Bankston later threatened to release publicly.

The defendant is also accused of:

-- posting telephone numbers for Kris Jenner, two family members and a friend;

-- gaining access to Kris Jenner's Instagram account and posting comments under her name and likeness that include disparaging comments about a member of the family; and

-- falsely tellling law enforcement that someone was going to Kris' home to commit a "massacre," according to federal prosecutors.

Bankston specifically is charged with six federal counts of stalking, one count for each victim discussed in the indictment -- Kris and Caitlyn Jenner, two assistants and two unnamed Jenner family members.

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The indictment further charges four counts of computer hacking, one count of extortion by threat targeting one of Kris Jenner's assistants, and four counts of aggravated identity theft related to the computer hacking offenses.

Each of the cyberstalking and computer hacking offenses carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. The aggravated identity theft charge carries a mandatory two-year consecutive sentence.

The family has long been plagued by stalkers.

Last Sunday, a 25-year-old man was arrested outside the home of Kendall Jenner, one of the daughters of Kris and Caitlyn Jenner.

Shavaughn McKenzie was arrested on suspicion of felony stalking, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department records show. He is being held on $180,000 bail.

A judge on Wednesday issued a temporary restraining order at Kendall Jenner's request.

McKenzie, a transient from Florida, remains in custody after pleading not guilty to misdemeanor stalking and trespassing charges filed earlier this week.

Kendall Jenner, 20, told police she had seen McKenzie multiple times and he had to be escorted away from her former home. He once ran into traffic to try to get her to stop, she said.

"I fear for my life and have suffered, and will continue to suffer, emotional distress," Kendall Jenner wrote in the restraining order application.

— City News Service; Photo of Kris Jenner by Jim Jordan [CC BY-SA 2.0] via Wikimedia Commons