BOSTON — A Rigby, Idaho man was sentenced on Monday, June 29, 2026, in federal court in Boston to two years in prison for cyberstalking a Massachusetts professor he met through an online course, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Edward John Kay, 54, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Julia Kobick to two years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $16,586.31 in restitution.
Kay pleaded guilty in January 2026 to one count of cyberstalking. He was arrested and charged by criminal complaint in July 2025.
Federal prosecutors say Kay met the victim in January 2025 after enrolling in an online course she taught through a university’s extension school. After one Zoom meeting and one virtual class session, Kay became fixated on the professor, dropped the course, and began harassing and intimidating her through email and LinkedIn.
Between January and July 2025, Kay sent the victim more than 80 harassing communications. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, the messages ranged from expressions of love and admiration to threats against the victim’s safety and livelihood. Some of the messages also referred to the victim’s minor child by name.
According to federal prosecutors, the communications included:
- A LinkedIn message in which Kay wrote to the victim: “I miss you-truly, deeply-with all of my heart and soul. That day I saw you on Zoom…You were the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Not just appearance. Everything. Your presence. Your mind. Your light. To gain you…and then to lose you like that? It devastated me.”
- Kay sent an email to several university offices, copying the victim, in which he threatened to file a licensing board complaint against her unless the university met his demands. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Kay wrote: “Dr. [victim’s last name] has been copied on all communications. She knows what is coming.” He also described the message as only the “VERY BEGINNING” and wrote that “Every day, starting today, will mark a new action of serious consequence, taken by me in accordance with divine alignment and institutional justice.”
- An anonymous email sent to the victim from [victim’s name]consience@protonmail.com, in which Kay allegedly professed his love for her, urged her to leave the university and wrote, “You are still free. But you are not unreachable.”
- A poem posted publicly on Kay’s LinkedIn profile in which prosecutors said he described the victim as a mouse living in a maze that needed to be set on fire.
Federal prosecutors say Kay told another university professor about his obsession with the victim and his desire to separate her from her husband. After Kay’s arrest, his partner told law enforcement that Kay believed he was going to build a compound in Wyoming and live there with the victim and her minor child.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division, announced the sentence. FBI Salt Lake City and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Allegra Flamm of the Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.
