By Richard Chumney
Journal Inquirer
SEYMOUR, Conn. — A former Connecticut corrections officer has been sentenced to six years and eight months in federal prison for cyberstalking a South Carolina FBI agent and his family, federal officials said.
Scott Robert Tardy, 32, of Seymour, was also ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution and serve three years of supervised release, the U.S. attorney for the District of South Carolina said in a news release Friday.
Tardy pleaded guilty last year to cyberstalking, providing false statements to the FBI and obstruction of justice in connection with a scheme that prosecutors said included threats of violence against the agent.
“The work of a law enforcement agent is difficult enough without the undue burden of threats against their safety and the safety of their family,” South Carolina U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling said in a statement. “We’ll continue to support our law enforcement partners who protect South Carolina every day.”
Officials said evidence obtained in the investigation revealed that Tardy operated a Kik account with the username “connecticut12345” and used the social media platform to join an anti-law enforcement chat group.
Tardy repeatedly identified the victim’s association with the FBI as a reason to target them in the messages, and also shared photographs of the agent’s spouse and the city and state where they live, officials said. At one point, Tardy discussed throwing a Molotov cocktail in their bedroom while they were sleeping, officials said.
Prosecutors alleged that Tardy later asked for the conversation to be moved to the Telegram platform, where he operated the username “slimybanana,” because he believed that application was more secure.
On Telegram, Tardy discussed having one of the victims “ruined,” “destroyed,” and “tortured for days,” and having the violence recorded on video, officials said. He also said burning the house was “good enough” if the victim was inside, officials said.
Officials said Tardy then shared the location of the victims’ home by sharing a map with a pin drop on the victims’ street and asked another user how long it would take them to get there.
Tardy denied ever using Kik or Telegram and sending the messages when the FBI executed a federal search warrant at his apartment on Feb. 16 , officials said. Tardy also gave other false statements and caused his phone to reset, clearing its content, officials said.
Despite his efforts to evade detection, investigators found data related to the Kik and Telegram accounts that showed that Tardy controlled the accounts. Officials were also able to recover the map of the victims’ home with the pin drop on it from an account associated with Tardy, officials said.
Officials said further evidence revealed that Tardy had engaged in other predatory online activity, including messages discussing his desires to drug and rape women and sharing images of friends’ children while discussing child sexual abuse.
Officials said Tardy worked as a correction officer at a detention facility in Connecticut during the scheme and previously said he lived in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Andrius Banevicius, a spokesperson for the state Department of Correction, said in an email that Tardy worked at the Hartford Correctional Center and was hired by the agency on Sept. 11, 2020. He said Tardy was terminated on Jan. 13.
Prosecutors noted that a federal judge sentenced Tardy to a prison term that is lengthier than the advisory sentencing range provided by the U.S. Sentencing Commission Guidelines due to the “severity of the impact on the victims.”
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