Peekskill 'Incel' Sent Rape, Death Threats, Researched Guns

PEEKSKILL, NY — A Peekskill 'Incel' who terrorized several victims in a year-long campaign of threatening social media posts, despite an order of protection from a Westchester court, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of stalking.

Prosecutors and FBI officials said David Kaufman harassed several people, but was on trial about stalking two victims and bombarding them with disturbing and graphic messages about rape and murder.

Prosecutors said Kaufman "self-identifies as a member of the 'Incels,' or the “Involuntary Celibate,” which refers to a group of individuals, typically heterosexual, white males, who adhere to a violent and misogynist ideology of male supremacy. Incels believe they are entitled to sex with women and to women’s bodies, and they blame women for refusing to have sex with them. Incels have an active online community and over the last seven years, Incels also have committed acts of violence against women across the world, including in the United States."

The New York Post reported that Kaufman's primary victims were a Long Island couple he had met in college and two of their friends.

Prosecutors said Kaufman started sending violent and threatening messages using various social media accounts. They tried to block him. He began impersonating them online.

Among the examples:

• On June 24, 2020, KAUFMAN sent the following message to the female victim: “Hey wanna hear a joke? What’s worse than 10 Stacy’s nailed to one tree? One Stacy nailed to ten trees [laughing crying face emoji].” “Stacy” is an Incel term that refers to an attractive female who rejects or refuses to have sex with an Incel, is hated by Incels, and is targeted by Incels for harassment, vitriol, humiliation, and violence.
• On June 29, 2020, KAUFMAN sent a series of messages to the male victim. These messages included an image of one of Elliot Rodger’s victims, a deceased female who had been stabbed to death, accompanied by the following message: “This is what happened when a woman said ‘no’ to Elliot Rodger . . . . Hopefully [Victim-1] never said no to someone just like Elliot Rodger.”
• In July 2020, KAUFMAN posted the following messages: “Don’t piss off BIG MAN” and “When [Victim-1] and I are dead, we’ll be in heaven together forever.”
• On July 11, 2020, KAUFMAN sent the following message to Victim-1: “Women have done nothing but spit in my face. Soon I’ll be getting a gun.”
• On July 12, 2020, KAUFMAN posted the following messages: “A beautiful environment is the darkest hell, if you have to experience it all alone . . . –Elliot Rodger” and “I don’t think [Victim-1] will be laughing too much later on.”

In the summer of 2020, law enforcement officers approached Kaufman and told him to stop harassing the two victims. An order of protection was issued in Westchester County but he continued to send disturbing and threatening messages to both through August, including posting a picture of himself licking a photograph of the woman.

He also conducted online surveillance of her residence and researched how to illegally purchase a gun and assemble a semi-automatic rifle, prosecutors said.

He was arrested Sept. 4 by the FBI and charged with stalking and threatening interstate communications.

Kaufman, who also called himself David Khalifa, John Morray and Big Man, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of stalking, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in prison and a maximum sentence of five years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge U.S. District Judge Nelson S. Román on March 16.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams thanked the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Cortlandt County Police Department, the Stamford Police Department, the Peekskill Police Department, the Mt. Pleasant Police Department, and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office for their assistance.