INDIANAPOLIS – Patrick Kearney, 40, of Saddlebrook, Arizona, was indicted by a federal grand jury for interstate stalking, transmitting threats via interstate communications, and making harassing telephone calls to an Indianapolis couple.
As alleged in the indictment, Kearney has engaged in a stalking and harassment campaign targeting a woman who had rejected his pursuit of a romantic relationship while they attended college together in the early 2000s. The victim graduated from college and never saw Kearney again. Beginning in September 2019, nearly twenty years later, Kearney began sending the woman letters and packages through the U.S. mail telling the victim she should have died in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, that she should eat poison, and that she should go to hell. Kearney also repeatedly called the victim at all hours and left profane and insulting voicemails on the victim’s cell phone.
When Kearney learned that his victim was engaged to be married—after finding the victim’s wedding website online—he began harassing and threatening the victim’s husband as well. Between October 2019 and September 2022, Kearney placed approximately 404 phone calls to the victims’ cell phones and left at least 155 voicemails. Kearney sent the victims multiple packages containing insect poison and pornographic material.
On October 12, 2022, Kearney appeared in federal court in Arizona and was then transported to the Southern District of Indiana. Kearney made his initial appearance in federal court in the Southern District of Indiana on November 17, 2022. On November 23, 2022, Kearney was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
If convicted on all nine counts alleged in the indictment, Kearney faces a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment on each of the first three counts, and a maximum penalty of up to two years imprisonment on each of counts four through nine, a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release following any prison term.
Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, and Rodney Hopkins, Inspector of Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Detroit Division, made the announcement.
U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant United States Attorney Kelsey L. Massa, who is prosecuting this case.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.