NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Westchester man who identified as an “incel” pleaded guilty Wednesday to stalking multiple people, sending frightening texts to them and even impersonating them online.
David Kaufman, 27, of Peekskill, pleaded guilty Wednesday to stalking multiple people under different aliases from October 2019 through August 2020.
“As he admitted in court, David Kaufman is an adherent of the ‘Incels’ who stalked and terrorized two victims, not only harassing them by impersonating them online, but also graphically threatening to murder them,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. “Thanks to the FBI, the NYPD, the State Police, and other law enforcement partners, Kaufman is in custody and awaiting sentencing for his admitted crime.”
According to an indictment, Kaufman self-identifies as an incel, also known as an “involuntary celibate,” which refers to a group of men with a misogynistic ideology of male supremacy.
Incels believe they’re entitled to sex with women, and blame women for refusing to. Incels have built an online community that has grown over the past few years.
Beginning around October 2019, Kaufman sent two victims, who were reportedly a couple, threatening messages on various social media accounts, the indictment said.
Among his messages was this one he sent to a victim in June 2020:
“Hey wanna hear a joke? What’s worse than 10 Stacy’s nailed to one tree? One Stacy nailed to ten trees 😂.” Officials denoted that “Stacy” is an incel term describing an attractive female who rejects incels.
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Then about five days later, Kaufman sent a series of messages to a second victim that said “This is what happened when a woman said no to Elliot Roger … hopefully [other victim] never said no to someone just like Elliot Rodger.”
Roger was an incel who declared a “war on women” and killed six people and injured 14 others in California.
“Kaufman’s overt hatred of women and sickening threats to harm potential victims caught the eye of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York,” said FBI Assistant Director Michael Driscoll. “We know acts of violence among those in the Incel community have increased in recent years.”
Then in July, Kaufman sent messages saying, “Don’t piss off BIG MAN,” he said, referring to himself. “When [victim] and I are dead, we’ll be in heaven together forever.”
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Later on sent a message to a victim saying, “Women have done nothing but spit in my face. Soon I’ll be getting a gun.”
Kaufman also created social media accounts using the full names of the two victims, and attempted impersonating them, officials said.
According to officials, law enforcement officers approached Kaufman and told him to stop harassing the victims, and an order of protection was issued in July 2020 for him to cease contact with the victims.
But officials said Kaufman continued harassing the two through August 2020. The indictment said he even posted a picture of him licking a photo of one of the victims.
Kaufman also surveilled on of the victim’s homes and researched how to illegally purchase a gun and assemble a semi-automatic weapon, according to a release.
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“The abhorrent acts carried out by David Kaufman are not just isolated offenses but representative of a larger pattern of criminality that tears at the very fabric of our society,” said NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, whose department was praised by officials, along with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and multiple New York and Connecticut police departments.
Kaufman pleaded guilty to a count of stalking, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of one year, and a maximum of five. He will be sentenced on March 16, 2022.