Receiving online threats for over a year - help!

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California / Arizona

Hello, I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this question, but what the heck. I've been receiving threats via email from an anonymous email address for over a year now. The threats are very graphic and sexual in nature. The person has referenced personal details about my family and places I frequent. I have not responded since last August, and still receive one or two emails from this person every month.

I am wondering:
- How can I find out who this person is, just so I can avoid them and possibly get a restraining order?
- Can I press charges for sexual harassment or stalking?

What I have done so far:

Filed a complaint on ic3.gov, which is what the local police department told me to do. I did this 3-4 months ago and nothing has come of it. I also found the persons IP address by embedding a blank image in the last email I sent back in August (in which I requested that the person stop contacting me). I had the image hosted on my server, and obtained their IP by looking at the logfile. Their IP indicates that they live in the same city in Arizona that I do. From what I understand, I need to subpoena their ISP to obtain their information, but I have no idea how to go about this. Please help!


Oh also, I received some of the emails last summer in New York, The majority of them in Arizona since then, and a couple in California since I've been here for a few months. In both the Arizona and California emails I have been threatened.

You need to make a formal complaint with police dept and give them info. If they have enough to go on, they will forward for subpoena

In CA this would be a misdemeanor. The state is NOT going to extradite the suspect from another state for this offense.

Local law enforcement is also not likely to expend a great deal of effort to find out who this is.

Where do you live? Check with that agency and ask if they will do any investigation. Chances are, if they referred you to ic3.gov, they will not be looking into it themselves.

My suggestion? Block the sender's address.

- Carl

I'm really wondering what it is possible to do on my own to find out who this person is so I can get a restraining order. I don't think blocking them is a good idea, because I'd rather get the threat that says "IM GOING TO KILL YOU TONIGHT" or something than not get it. The person knows both of my parents' full names, which isn't information that is readily available on the internet, and my friends don't know that even. If they know that then they most certainly know where I live. I live in AZ but am in CA for the summer. I thought maybe since I received some emails here, I should try to pursue it while I'm here, and if that doesn't work out, pursue it from Arizona.

neverletdown said:

I'm really wondering what it is possible to do on my own to find out who this person is so I can get a restraining order. I don't think blocking them is a good idea, because I'd rather get the threat that says "IM GOING TO KILL YOU TONIGHT" or something than not get it. The person knows both of my parents' full names, which isn't information that is readily available on the internet, and my friends don't know that even. If they know that then they most certainly know where I live. I live in AZ but am in CA for the summer. I thought maybe since I received some emails here, I should try to pursue it while I'm here, and if that doesn't work out, pursue it from Arizona.

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You can do whatever you want and can afford to identify the person. The police are not going to that for you.

Note that in CA a civil restraining order violation would also be a misdemeanor in CA and if he is in another state, they will likewise not go and get him.

If you received them while you were here in CA then you should report it to the police, but as I previously said, don't expect them to do much about it, either.

So .. what did you do to set this person off?

- Carl

CdwJava said:

So .. what did you do to set this person off?
- Carl

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If I knew this, maybe I'd know who the person is!

neverletdown said:

If I knew this, maybe I'd know who the person is!

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I thought that maybe you had been on a bulletin board or something with the person. So, if I read this right, you started getting threats from out of the blue, from an e-mail address you do not recognize, for a reason you are completely unaware of?

How very odd.

Well, you can hire people to hunt him down and then seek a TRO, or, you can divert the messages to spam. Aside from that, lacking a serious and credible threat, this is not going to get law enforcement or the courts too excited.

- Carl