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Former Northeastern University track-and-field coach, Steve Waithe, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges related to a nude photo scam. Waithe was accused of duping female athletes into sending him compromising images and stealing similar content from their mobile devices.
Waithe, 30, admitted to charges of wire fraud, cyberstalking and computer fraud in Boston's federal court, as reported by Nate Raymond of Reuters. The plot, described by Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Deitch, victimized at least 50 women across the nation. Deitch is set to push for a sentence exceeding three years and ten months for Waithe.
The coach's tenure at Northeastern spanned from October 2018 to February 2019. However, he was dismissed from his role amidst the allegations. Waithe has a coaching past at Penn State University, Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Tennessee and Concordia University Chicago.
Prosecutors detailed that during his time at Northeastern, Waithe would request to use female athletes' cellphones, allegedly to record them during practices and meets. He would then secretly browse for compromising photos of the women and send them to himself.
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After leaving Northeastern University, Waithe reportedly reached out to six athletes via Instagram accounts with pseudonyms like “privacyprotector.” He claimed to have discovered compromising photos of them online, offering his assistance in removing them from the web. However, this was a ruse to acquire more explicit photos under the guise of conducting “reverse image searches.”
With the aid of a hacker, Waithe was able to steal intimate images of a Northeastern athlete from her Snapchat account and harass her online, according to Deitch. Operating under aliases, Waithe emailed women from various U.S. states presenting a made-up “body development” study. He asked for photos of them in minimum clothing to “show as much skin as possible.”
While some recipients ignored his emails, at least 17 women responded, sending Waithe approximately 350 compromising photos.
Waithe's sentencing will be conducted on March 6 by U.S. District Judge Patti Saris, and many victims plan to attend. Waithe's defense lawyer, Jane Peachy, estimates a sentence of as little as two years and three months under federal sentencing guidelines is fair. Waithe, who was initially charged in 2021, would receive credit for the 14 months already spent in custody.
