Former track coach sentenced to five years in scheme to obtain nude pics of athletes

CHICAGO (CBS) – A former track and field coach from Chicago was sentenced to five years in prison for victimizing dozens of women across the country by tricking them into sending nude photos online and even cyberstalking one of his student-athletes. 

Steven Waithe, 31, was arrested in 2021 on fraud charges and pleaded guilty in November 2023. He worked at multiple schools, including Concordia University Chicago and the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Federal prosecutors said Waithe used phony social media accounts to victimize 56 women and attempted to dupe 72 others. 

Waithe contacted prospective victims of the Northeastern University track and field team in Boston, claiming that he had "found" compromising photos of them online and offering to "help" get the images removed from the internet. 

Waithe requested additional nude or semi-nude photos from victims that he could purportedly use for "reverse image searches." This scheme tricked none of the Northeastern University student-athletes, though Waithe continued to try it on new prospective victims.

Waithe also cyberstalked one victim, from at least June 2020 to October 2020, through text messages and direct messages on social media, as well as by hacking into her Snapchat account. He texted and sent nude photos of the victim to the victim's boyfriend, stating, "I wanted to make you aware that someone hacked your girlfriend's Snapchat account and will leak it soon." 

Waithe sent harassing and intimidating messages to the victim and her boyfriend. The messages included explicit photos that Waithe had stolen from the victim's phone when she was on the track and field team at Northeastern. 

Waithe also fabricated at least two females to obtain additional photos of women. Under the purported premise of an "athlete research" or "body development" study, Waithe emailed prospective victims pretending to be "Katie" or "Kathryn." 

The emails described a phony study for athletes and requested information about height, weight, body fat, and diet habits. The emails also included a request for the victims to send photos of themselves to "track their progress" and recommended that the images show the women in a "uniform or bathing suit to show as much skin as possible." The emails often included attachments of sample nude and semi-nude images to illustrate the types of photos that victims should send.

Prosecutors say Waithe also would regularly ask to use female athletes' cellphones at practice and meets so that he could film their forms. One victim told authorities that she saw Waithe scrolling on her phone at least once instead of recording.

After serving his prison term, Waithe will be on three years of supervised release. Waithe will be prohibited from taking any jobs in which he could serve as a coach, teacher, mentor, or any similar role involving women or girls, and his internet usage will be strictly monitored by probation.

 Waithe previously worked as a track and field coach at Penn State University, Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Tennessee, and Concordia University in River Forest, Ill.