Man Sentenced To 17 Years For Cyberstalking, Waltham Bomb Threats

WALTHAM, MA — Ending a saga that impacted the entire city of Waltham, the Newton man responsible for the campaign of bomb threats last year was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Boston for conducting an extensive cyberstalking campaign against his former housemate, her family members, co-workers, friends, and other unrelated individuals.

The man hacked into his former Waltham housemate’s online accounts, posted fake sexual solicitations in the victims’ names, sent unsolicited images of child pornography, and made over 120 hoax bomb threats in Waltham and surrounding communities.

Ryan S. Lin, 25, of Newton was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young to 210 months in prison and five years of supervised release, after pleading guilty in April 2018 to seven counts of cyberstalking, five counts of distribution of child pornography, nine counts of making hoax bomb threats, three counts of computer fraud and abuse and one count of aggravated identity theft. Lin was arrested in October 2017, and has been in custody since.

From approximately May 2016 through Oct. 5, 2017, Lin engaged in a cyberstalking campaign against his housemate, a 25-year-old woman. Lin hacked into her online accounts and devices and stole the her private photographs, personally identifiable information, and private diary entries, which contained sensitive details about her medical, psychological and sexual history, and distributed the material to hundreds of people associated with her.

Lin also created and posted fake online profiles in the victim’s name and solicited rape fantasies, including a “gang bang,” and other sexual activities, which in turn caused men to show up at the victim’s home. He also engaged in a number of other activities targeting the victim, including relentless anonymous text messaging and hoaxes.

And then Lin cyberstalked six others. Some were associated with the roommate, and others were unrelated. The additional victims include two women who were Lin’s housemates in Newton at the time of his arrest. On multiple occasions, Lin sent unsolicited sexually explicit images of prepubescent children to the primary former roommate's mother, the woman's co-worker and housemate, a friend of the former roommate who lived in New Jersey, and two of Lin’s former classmates in New York.

Lin also falsely and repeatedly reported to law enforcement that there were bombs at the primary former roommate's Waltham residence. Lin also created a false social media profile in the name of the housemate in Waltham and posted that he was going to “shoot up” a school in Waltham, stating that there would be “blood and corpses everywhere.” These threats became part of a prolonged pattern of threats in Waltham, and eventually in surrounding towns, including schools, homes, businesses and other institutions.

Previously on Patch:

• Man Accused Of Waltham Bomb Threats, Cyberstalking Pleads
• Waltham Bomb Threat Suspect Arrested - For Cyberstalking
• Waltham Bomb-Threat Case: Newton Man Charged On 24
• 24 Bomb Threats In Waltham Appear To Be Hoaxes: Police
• Waltham, Belmont School Bomb Threats: Police
• Bomb Threat At The Waltham Library: False Alarm,
• Waltham To Hold Bomb Scare Meeting

Have you signed up for the daily free Neighborhood Patch newsletter yet? You should probably get on that.
File photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch