DENVER – New emails detail threats of violence and rape made to university athletes, including students at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
The threats resulted in the October arrest of a Minnesota man, Eric Ronald Bolduan, 43, of Rochester, Minnesota who is facing federal charges of interstate communications and stalking.
The previously undisclosed emails were reviewed by Denver7 Investigates and came from court documents in the Bolduan case.
He is accused downloading Instagram pictures of female Colorado college athletes, pairing those photos in galleries with nude pictures of women who resembled the athletes, then using the spoofed pornography to harass his victims online.
Four women in Colorado were targeted including at least three CU-Boulder cross country team members and as many as 50 other victims across the country from November 2015 to November 2016.
In one email, prosecutors allege Bolduan claimed he had terminal cancer and offered to pay for a date.
“I am dying from cancer and am trying to cram as much enjoyment into my final months as possible. You are a very talented and beautiful woman, and I'd like the chance to spend just a little time with you. I am not proposing anything sexual - just a one-time date,” prosecutors say the email read. “I want to talk with you, hold your hand, and kiss you. We could go to a movie, concert, sporting event, shopping, etc. - whatever you want to do. I would pay for everything and would be willing to pay you however much you want for your time.”
Bolduan used the name Trevor in another email, prosecutors believe, and requested women harm him.
“I am looking for a woman (or a group of women) willing to beat me up. I will pay you for your time. I know that this is a very unusual request, but that is honestly all that I'm looking for - we meet up, you beat me up, and we're done,” an email an FBI agent claims he tracked back to Bolduan’s home internet connection, said.
Another email claims to be from someone named Allie and reads, “I've been watching you since your first day on campus. The more that I see of you, the more that I want to see even more.
I'm sick of looking. You and I are going to spend this weekend alone together. To be clear, I'm not asking you - I'm telling you. One way or another, we are going to be alone…” the emails says.
The author then described how he would rape the woman and continued with threats that are graphic and may be disturbing to some readers.
“I'd prefer we do this the easy way. You agree, you lose one weekend, and then return to your life as normal. If you resist, I will get you, and I will make you do what I want. I'm perfectly fine with causing you pain. In fact, I'd love to bash your head into the floor until your teeth are gone.”
Bolduan faces ten years in prison, if convicted.
Former federal prosecutor Rick Kornfeld says a conviction requires prosecutors to prove the defendant created emotional distress with his emails.
“I can’t imagine there is a federal judge out there who says, ‘You threatened someone’s life in this way, and I’m only giving you probation.’ I mean that’s not going to happen,” Kornfeld, who is now a Denver defense attorney, said Monday.
Previously, Denver7 investigative reporter Jace Larson detailed how the alleged harassment and threats started sometime around November 2015, Colorado athletes started receiving photos of nude women that were mixed in with images of the actual women. The photo galleries were labeled with the victims’ names, insinuating the nude photos were also of the same women, according to a criminal complaint for Bolduan’s arrest.
In some of the spoofed images, the women’s faces were digitally manipulated and put onto the pornographic images.
The sisters discovered similar image galleries posted on multiple pornography websites for a year, and throughout that time, their family members, friends, and other staffers and students of the university were sent links to the galleries.
“The subject would often send threatening emails to the victims discussing how he was stalking them and planning to rape, torture, and kill them,” the criminal complaint says.
The women reported some of the harassment to police in the spring of 2016, who started investigating, along with the FBI.
A search warrant was executed at his and his wife’s Minnesota home in early June. He admitted to being responsible for the harassment of the four Colorado women, and at least 50 other women across the country. The FBI says it also seized “a large volume of digital evidence” that agents are still reviewing.
One of the FBI agents involved in the investigation emailed with Bolduan further after the warrant was executed, and he admitted he had impotence issues that caused him to lash out at the women.
Bolduan told the FBI agent that initially, he’d wanted to “draw attention” to revenge porn online, but wrote in an email that “it wasn’t long before the motivation was anger and frustration, with the intent of upsetting and frightening the victims and making them fear for their lives.”
Bolduan was extradited to Denver to face the charges in the U.S. District Court of Colorado. He remains in federal custody in Denver. A trial is set for June.
Bolduan has a criminal history in Minnesota, including a conviction for indecent exposure in 2004 and criminal sexual contact in 1993.
