For nearly a month, a Fresno police officer and his family were the target of a relentless campaign of harassment and revenge by a man angry about receiving a ticket for reckless crossing, according to a civil lawsuit.
The officer, identified in the lawsuit as John Doe, was on duty on October 25, 2019, around 2 p.m., when he saw a man, later identified as John Christopher Spatafore, illegally crossing the street in downtown Fresno, near the Fresno City Hall and the railroad tracks.
Spatafore, 55, worked in information technology at Community Regional Medical Center and was about a block from his workplace. A police report described Spatafore as “extremely confrontational” during the interrogation, but he took the ticket and the two men went on their way.
The meeting should have ended then, but what followed was a series of bizarre events that the agent’s lawyer, Brian Whelan, called a “cyber campaign of hate and revenge” against the agent, his wife and daughter.
The officer is suing Spatafore and the hospital for, among other things, invasion of privacy, negligent infliction of emotional distress, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent supervision of an employee.
The officer is seeking no less than $5.5 million for himself, his wife and his daughter. Punitive damages will be determined by a jury at trial.
A pretrial discovery conference is scheduled for June 6 and a trial potentially later this year.
Harassment of Fresno Police Officer and Family
Court records and police reports detail the extent to which Spatafore carried out his revenge plan. A few days after writing the recklessness ticket, the officer began receiving password reset codes, indicating that someone was trying to hack his email account.
The attempts continued at least 10 more times in the following days. Then the phone calls, emails and texts began.
Spatafore launched thousands of requests for information to auto dealers, solar energy companies and retailers, according to the lawsuit.
In one day, the officer received 100 text messages on his personal phone.
“Lamborghini, Rolls Royce and Maserati dealerships began flooding John (the officer’s pseudonym) with ‘responding to your request’ calls about online orders and online inquiries that John never made,” according to the lawsuit. “Additionally, there were also indications of attempted intrusion into Plaintiffs’ wireless Internet, which suggested that Spatafore hid outside of Plaintiffs’ home at all hours of the day and night to hack into Plaintiffs’ wireless Internet and was within the short range of wireless Internet. .”
In testimony, Spatafore denied having hacked the officer’s email account. Still, the harassment increased.
He filed a false police report accusing the officer of being involved in a hit-and-run on October 1, 2019. In the narrative portion of the police report, Spatafore wrote: “Police motorcycle riding on sidewalk with no lights or sirens. He appeared intoxicated by drugs as he laughed loudly.”
A Fresno police investigation found the incident did not happen, and a search warrant later revealed the online report was linked to Spatafore’s IP address at the hospital.
Spatafore filed a second false report, this time alleging that the officer’s wife was a victim of domestic violence. He also told police that the officer’s sister-in-law had photographic evidence of the abuse. Although a police investigation found the report to be false, it did harm the couple.
“The humiliating false reports of false domestic violence spread throughout the community and the Fresno Police Department and John and Jane were humiliated, forced and compelled to refute defamatory allegations,” according to the lawsuit.
Fresno hospital fires IT employee
Despite his fear of being caught, Spatafore was relentless in his “vengeful attacks.”
The officer and his wife received a message indicating that their personal computer’s camera had been hacked and that the hacker had compromising videos of them that he threatened to release unless his demands were met.
“I demand 100% of your attention for the next 24 hours, or I will certainly ensure that you live guilt-free for the rest of your life… I know almost everything about you…” Spatafore allegedly wrote, according to the lawsuit.
While some of the harassment was threatening, other incidents were infuriating. Spatafore allegedly tried to turn off the officer’s water and trash services on Thanksgiving. The officer was forced to intervene with city officials to stop this from happening.
Nearly a month after he began his online harassment, Spatafore was arrested by Fresno police on November 21, 2019. He was driving less than a mile from the officer’s home when police pulled him over. Inside his car was a loaded .38 caliber revolver that was not registered. Spatafore also did not have a license to carry the gun and denied being the owner.
The hospital fired Spatafore on November 21, 2019 after discovering that he used the organization’s equipment, including a laptop, to carry out his revenge plan.
During an interview with police, Spatafore admitted to online harassment, adding that he used public information sites and Facebook profiles to obtain information, not hospital records.
Hospital officials declined to comment on the civil suit.
“As this case is pending, we are unable to comment,” said Michelle Von Tersch, senior vice president of communications and legislative affairs.
Criminal proceedings suspended
Spatafore was charged with two counts of unauthorized use of personal identifying information, one count of possession of a firearm concealed in a vehicle, one misdemeanor count of receiving stolen property and one misdemeanor count of making a false report.
There was also a restraining order issued against him by the court, prohibiting him from contacting the officer or his family.
But the criminal case against Spatafore was suspended after his lawyer, Corina Burchfield, managed to place him in a mental health diversion program.
The program is designed to provide treatment to defendants with mental health issues rather than sending them directly to prison. Treatment can last up to two years.
Burchfield, senior associate attorney at Sawl Law Group in Fresno, defended the decision to treat Spatafore for mental illness, saying “he was not in the proper mental state at the time.”
She said Spatafore is a changed man, active in his church and also a grandfather.
“When all this happened, when he was arrested, he apologized and was remorseful and remorseful,” she said. “He lost his job of 17 years because of it. This was very strange for him. It ruined his life.”
Burchfield, however, also understands that the incident was traumatic for the officer and his family.
“He was extremely upset because this affected his family life and is using every means possible to punish my client and obtain some type of compensation,” she said. “But he (Spatafore) got the help he needed and is not a danger to anyone.”
