Advice for Friend

[nycgal34]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: New York

A friend of mine got drunk and sent a sexually explicit email to a girl he had a crush on. Both of them are 20 and were in the same school. He described how he loved her and wanted to have sex with her. It's sort of like the Bill oreilly scandal. Now he is petrified that she will press charges on him. This happened over a month and a half ago and he hasnt heard anything from the police. He is also afraid that he will be labelled as a sex offender. He hasn't contacted her since. He is going absolutely insane and doesn't leave his house. What charges could he face if he went to court? Could he get the sex offender tag if it did? Does it take the police a month and a half to act?

What advice can I give to him?

[aardvarc]

Harassing communications charges in all states generally require multiple communications over a period of time. IF this is a single email sent from one adult to another, police aren't likely to give a hoot unless there is some form of threat involved. Beyond the police however, he could be looking at anything from academic suspension to explusion if she reports it to the school. Most schools have very explicit rules about sending such emails to or from a school-based email address, especially to another student (check the school's sexual harassment policy).

What advice can you give? Tell him to quit drinking if he's going to do stupid things like this that could ruin his academic career - and then tell him that he can consult with a criminal defense attorney if he is in fear of law enforcement action or if she files for a restraining order (but from where I sit, his biggest worry at this point should be what the school could do if she tells).

[nycgal34]

Harassing communications charges in all states generally require multiple communications over a period of time. IF this is a single email sent from one adult to another, police aren't likely to give a hoot unless there is some form of threat involved. Beyond the police however, he could be looking at anything from academic suspension to explusion if she reports it to the school. Most schools have very explicit rules about sending such emails to or from a school-based email address, especially to another student (check the school's sexual harassment policy).

What advice can you give? Tell him to quit drinking if he's going to do stupid things like this that could ruin his academic career - and then tell him that he can consult with a criminal defense attorney if he is in fear of law enforcement action or if she files for a restraining order (but from where I sit, his biggest worry at this point should be what the school could do if she tells).

This is what he told me..

1) This occurred on Facebook involving a fake account he created.

2) They don't go to the same college, they went to the same high school.

3) This happened over 6 weeks ago.

4) He sent a letter of apology a few days afterwards on another fake account.

Can he assume that because he hasn't heard anything from the cops in over 6weeks, she didn't contact them? Shouldn't he have heard of them by now?

[usedbranflakes]

Most likely she has chocked it up to some weirdo. If he stops e-mailing her then that will likely end it. If he keeps e-mailing her there are harrassment and stalking charges he will be staring at.
A felony is like staring down the barrel of a loaded gun with 1 in the chamber. When the trigger is pulled and he gets hit with the felony it's like getting shot in the head.

...and the police can subpoena Facebook to track the IP address he used.

He should put the computer away until he gets enough common sense to think things through. ...and then wait a few months...