PORTLAND —  A Biddeford man was sentenced Tuesday to serve five years in federal prison for cyberstalking his ex-fiancee.

U.S. Attorney Thomas Delahanty said Shawn Sayer, 43, a former self-employed carpenter, will be on three years of supervised release after his prison term.

Sayer, who pleaded guilty to cyberstalking on Aug. 13, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Portland by Judge D. Brock Hornby.

Federal prosecutors, citing the potential danger to the victim and Sayer’s relentless pursuit of her, sought a prison sentence of 78 months.

Delahanty and Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig M. Wolff said Sayer used the Internet to terrorize his ex-fiancee for years after they broke up in 2006, even after she changed her name and moved from Maine to Louisiana.

Court documents say Sayer uploaded sexually explicit videos of her to pornography websites using her real name and street address, set up a fake Facebook account to post the videos and extended sexually explicit messages through a phony Yahoo! Messenger account, inviting men to her home for sexual encounters.

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As a result, numerous men came to her home in Louisiana seeking sexual encounters. Delahanty said the men “terrified her and caused her to fear that she could be sexually assaulted or otherwise physically harmed.”

The government’s sentencing memorandum says Sayer and the woman dated from 2003 to September 2006.

Soon after their relationship ended, Sayer began stalking her. She obtained a protection-from-abuse order on Dec. 1, 2006.

Sayer was arrested at least eight times after that on charges of violating the court order, which prohibited him from having contact with her.

He was convicted of stalking in 2007 but his jail sentence was suspended. Prosecutors said the conviction had no effect on his conduct.

Sayer followed the woman to various locations, including the supermarket, the post office, the beach and her workplace.

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The woman legally changed her name in May 2009 and moved to Louisiana, but the government says Sayer continued to “torment” her.

He began to upload video clips of their past sexual acts to pornography websites. The clips had been “consensually recorded,” according to court records, but the woman never gave him permission to post the videos online.

Federal prosecutors told Hornby that a 78-month jail sentence was appropriate because “the defendant’s conduct was particularly vile and will continue to impact the victim for many years to come.”

Prosecutors said there is no way to remove the videos from the pornography websites.

Prosecutors said Sayer posed online as the woman, engaging in chats with men who were interested in having sex with her.

“Through this conduct, the defendant tormented the victim and put her at very real risk of serious physical harm,” the government said.

The investigation was conducted by the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit with assistance from the Secret Service.

Staff Writer Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com


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