OC Man Charged With Stalking 15 Girls On Social Media, Likely Used Public Library Computers
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) — An Orange County man has been charged with terrorizing upwards of 15 young women on social media, and an expert says it can serve as a warning to those who post information of themselves online.
Dominic Luis Magdaleno of La Habra was charged Monday with four counts of stalking and three counts of criminal threats, plus one count of dissuading a witness from reporting a crime. All stem from his alleged stalking of so-called teen "influencers" on sites like Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr.
Magdaleno, 25, likely harassed the girls using the computers at a La Habra Public Library where he was ultimately arrested last week. Police claim that, in addition to stalking, Magdaleno threatened to rape and kill some of the women.
An investigation began after a 19-year-old Dana Point woman told police Magdaleno was harassing her on Instagram.
This news didn't faze Simone Goldstein. She told CBS2 News harassment is par for the course when you're a woman on social media.
"It's really creepy, and I try to limit, like, photos of myself online," said Goldstein. "If I do get people who message me, I'll just try and block them, but it's hard 'cause they can always make new profiles and continue it. And there's really not much you can do to stop it."
Cybersecurity expert Todd Plesco echoed that sentiment.
He said it's not very hard for people to stalk others on social media "if they're using their cell phones or their mobile devices to give the exact coordinates and location of where they live or where they're posting from." He said parents should warn their children about unwanted messages and have them not turn off their devices' location services when not in use.
Goldstein said it was "scary" that apps like Snapchat now provide those very locations to the public with new features that come with software updates.
