FBI Probing Stalking Of Fox Commentator

MAY 19--The Oklahoma man convicted of threatening to kill U.S. Senator Harry Reid is now the target of an FBI investigation into his alleged online stalking of a prominent conservative journalist and frequent Fox News Channel contributor, court records show.

According to an FBI affidavit, Charles Moreland, 33, has spent most of the last year harassing Catherine “Katie” Pavlich, a Townhall.com editor. Pavlich, 27, has received more than 250 e-mails from Moreland, a barrage that left the journalist “in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury,” federal agents allege.

Moreland, a Tulsa resident, pleaded guilty in January 2015 to sending Reid messages stating that the politician was a “dead man.” One e-mail warned Reid that if he did not resign his Senate seat he and his family members would “face stern, harsh, unimaginable consequences.” In another message, Moreland wrote that if the Democratic power “opens his mouth again, we will take action against him and his family immediately.”

In a misdemeanor plea deal, Moreland was sentenced to a month in jail and five months of home detention. He was also placed on probation for a year.

Beginning last May, investigators charge, Moreland inundated Pavlich with creepy and menacing e-mails. While claiming in one e-mail, “I am not going to harm anyone,” Moreland stated in a later communication, “If I come to DC you will ignore me and say you have no idea who I am.”

Upon receiving some of Moreland’s initial e-mails, Pavlich told a colleague that, “I think this guy…is a serious harm to himself and possibly a legitimate stalker of me.” Pavlich, identified as “CP” in the FBI affidavit, did not respond to TSG e-mails seeking comment about the federal probe.

In other e-mails, Moreland appeared infatuated with Pavlich, asking, “When are you going to seduce me?” and “Does that mean you are going to kill me if I don’t marry you?” When Pavlich solicited reader questions in advance of an interview with Carly Fiorina, Moreland wrote, “Ask her if she thinks I should marry you.”

Moreland, the FBI affidavit notes, even monitored an Instagram account maintained by Pavlich’s brother. When Pavlich’s sibling uploaded video of himself shooting at a Tulsa gun range, Moreland interpreted the clip as a direct threat. “I have no interest in harming you or anyone you care about. I honestly do not,” Moreland wrote to Pavlich in a September 2015 e-mail. “However, if you have interest in harming me, please make sure you follow through on the implied.”

Moreland’s e-mails to Pavlich stopped after he was arrested in November for violating terms of his probation. He was cited for failing to disclose his use of a tablet and laptop that were capable of accessing the Internet. Additionally, court records show, Moreland sent “threatening” e-mails to the White House, Hillary Clinton, and other public officials.

The Clinton e-mail, forwarded to the Secret Service by the campaign’s correspondence director, prompted agents to confront Moreland about his unhinged communications.

Moreland, sentenced to five months in custody on the probation violation charge, left federal prison last month. Within days, he began sending Pavlich e-mail and Twitter messages. In an April 6 e-mail, Moreland claimed, “I’m not going to bother you or your brother!! I am leaving the country!! Sorry… Good Luck.”

FBI agents are in possession of multiple phones, laptops, tablets, and hard drives that were seized from Moreland’s Tulsa apartment. Investigators are reviewing the devices in an effort to locate communications to Pavlich, threats to any other individuals, and communications “related to the purchase or procurement of weapons” or “organizing or directing other parties to plan or commit acts of violence.” (9 pages)