Art gallery owner gets five years for ‘horrendous’ cyberstalking

A federal judge sentenced the owner of a Riverside County art gallery to five years in prison Monday, calling his attempts to extort an art publishing company he had once worked for and its employees by creating disparaging websites and making repeated threats against their loved ones “horrendous.”

Jason White, 43, of Temecula, pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of federal stalking related to what prosecutors describe as a relentless campaign of fear. U.S. District Court Judge Stephen V. Wilson called White’s actions “very disturbing.”

White was arrested by the FBI on Feb. 12 in connection with a stalking and extortion scheme that targeted art world professionals with whom he had had business relationships.

When White ended a business relationship, he began posting derogatory information about ex-associates on websites.

Prosecutors said he began to demand money via harassing text messages and emails, going so far as to make threats against relatives of his targets, including their children.

“Given the ominous, angry and relentless nature of the messages, the victims had a reasonable fear that defendant planned to hunt down and kill their spouses and children,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo filed with the court. “Indeed, this case is a parent’s worst nightmare that will likely haunt the victims for the rest of their lives because they will always be fearful that defendant may find their children and make good on his threats.”

White targeted his former employer, an art publisher, creating derogatory websites in the publisher’s name and sending menacing text messages.

In a text message to a former supervisor, White threatened to find her family and make her pay with “fear, anguish and pain.” On several occasions, White obtained pictures of her child and sent pictures of the boy with comments including: “It will be very unfortunate if something was to happen to him.”

At Monday’s hearing, two of the victims spoke, telling Judge Wilson that they felt terrorized by White.

Prosecutors said White posted a message in January on the Facebook page of a prominent artist represented by the art publisher. Posting a photo of himself, White wrote that he was targeting the artist’s wife and child, saying he’d wait in the bushes to “kneecap” a child.

“Your children are my end game,” White wrote.

White’s actions came less than one year after a restraining order was filed against him by another former employer, also for cyberstalking and extortion conduct, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum to the court.

Follow Southern California crime @lacrimes.