Man who sent letters claiming woman in Arkansas was stripper, escort gets prison

Prosecutors say man’s harassment put woman in hospital

FAYETTEVILLE -- A Virginia man was sentenced to federal prison on Sept. 12 for stalking a Northwest Arkansas woman who broke off a relationship.

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James Daniel Hobgood, 36, of Manakin Sabot, Va., was sentenced to a year and one day in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of stalking. Hobgood also was ordered to perform 180 hours of community service and pay more than $2,300 in victim restitution.

Judge Tim Brooks presided over the sentencing hearings in the U.S. District Court in Fayetteville.

According to Hobgood's plea agreement, a woman contacted law enforcement in Northwest Arkansas in August 2015 claiming she was being persistently harassed by Hobgood. The victim told agents with Homeland Security she had met and to some extent became romantically involved with Hobgood while living in Richmond, Va., but after a short period of time she began to rebuff his advances.

In January, she moved from Richmond to Northwest Arkansas and Hobgood began to contact her by email, Facebook messages, and third-party text messages, demanding that she apologize to him in person, according to the plea agreement. When she refused, Hobgood created publicly accessible social media accounts in which he represented her to be an exotic dancer and escort, the agreement said.

Hobgood also sent letters to her employer through the Internet and by mail, claiming she was a stripper and an escort in an attempt to get her fired, the agreement said. He repeatedly contacted her and her family and demanded that she apologize.

Hobgood's behavior caused the woman substantial emotional distress that resulted in her being hospitalized for a short period of time, according to prosecutors.

When authorities contacted Hobgood, he told them he would not stop contacting the woman until he cost the victim her job and that she should repent for the perceived wrongs she had committed against him. Hobgood admitted sending the victim, her family and her employer communications by Internet, telephone and mail in which he told them she was an exotic dancer and said that he was not going to stop.

Law enforcement corroborated the victim's claims by Hobgood's cellphone history and Facebook history. Hobgood was indicted by a federal grand jury Oct. 28 and pleaded guilty April 13.

State Desk on 09/20/2016

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