Prosecutor: Charles Timothy Browne sent hundreds of harassing and threatening texts to woman in Maryland

Special to Iredell Free News

CHARLOTTE – A Statesville man was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison on Thursday for cyberstalking a woman residing in Maryland.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell sentenced Charles Timothy Browne, 57, to 43 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, announced the disposition of the case in a news release.

According to information in filed court documents and the sentencing hearing, in December 2017 and January 2018, Browne sent a Maryland woman approximately 731 harassing and intimidating texts including, “I like my new gun,” “Now your gonna feel some pain,” and “Lock your door.”

Court records show that Browne also texted a mutual friend that he was going to shoot the woman in the face. Browne’s repeated texting caused the Maryland woman substantial emotional distress and to fear that he would kill or seriously injure her, prosecutors said.

On February 3, Browne pleaded guilty to cyberstalking.

During Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Bell enhanced Browne’s sentence because at the time he sent the harassing and intimidating texts to the Maryland woman, a judge-issued protective order was in effect that prohibited him from abusing, threatening to abuse, harassing and/or contacting her.

Between 2004 and 2017, Browne had been subject to six protective orders.

U.S. Attorney Murray commended the FBI for their investigation of this case. Assistant United States Attorney Kimlani M. Ford, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, prosecuted the case.