SALT LAKE CITY — A Hawaii man accused of sending hundreds of people to a North Salt Lake home for unwanted services like plumbing, pizza delivery and prostitution has pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of cyberstalking,
Loren M. Okamura, 44, entered the plea July 27 in U.S. District Court, the latest turn in a case police have called “stalking on steroids.”
Police arrested him last year after they said he used apps to cover up his phone location data in order to relentlessly stalk Walt Gilmore and his adult daughter.
A federal grand jury indicted Okamura on charges of cyberstalking, making interstate threats and transporting a person over state lines for the purpose of prostitution.
Gilmore was forced to put signs up in his yard to inform delivery people of the hoax and police parked a patrol car in his driveway to deter people from coming to the house. He has said his daughter knows Okamura but no longer has contact with him. Prosecutors have not said how they knew each other.
Companies also reported being tormented. Some said they lost thousands of dollars in man hours, resources and lost business in responding to the false calls for service.
“This is stalking on steroids. It’s pretty vicious.” North Salt Lake police told the Deseret News, which first reported the story.
Gilmore has said he and his daughter were “so relieved” when Okamura was finally taken into custody.
They believed they knew all along who was responsible and filed a civil stalking injunction but it did not curb the behavior, which included multiple voicemails a day on the woman’s phone. She received one email telling her to “sleep with one eye open and keep looking over her shoulder,” court documents state.
Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 5.