St. Louis Park man gets 4 years in prison for cyberstalking ex-wife, her family in 'vicious' case

Calling it "one of the most vicious and cruel cyberstalking cases" she had ever encountered, a federal judge has sentenced a St. Louis Park man to nearly four years in prison for repeated threats against his ex-wife and her family.

Julyen Alonzo Martin, 30, repeatedly threatened to kill his ex-wife, identified in court records as T.A., and her stepfather, identified as J.L., according to documents filed by the U.S. attorney's office.

Martin also sent emails to J.L.'s workplace, a private school, pretending to be a private investigator and falsely claiming J.L. was using a work-issued computer to view child pornography.

Based on sentencing guidelines, U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger and Assistant U.S. Attorney Hillary A. Taylor, wrote that Martin should receive 37 to 46 months in prison, and recommended that his crimes merited the "high end" of the guidelines range.

U.S. District Susan Richard Nelson concurred, sentencing Martin to 46 months, while saying that he committed acts "capable of destroying the lives" of his victims, according to a U.S. Justice Department press release, issued Monday. Nelson handed down the sentence Friday.

Kevin W. DeVore, a Woodbury attorney representing Martin, had urged that Nelson sentence Martin to time served, saying his client faced "mental health issues" and wanted to turn his life around. Martin has been incarcerated for 15 months.

DeVore said Monday that an appeal of the sentence is under consideration, and declined to comment further.

A grand jury indicted Martin on May 24, 2022, on two counts of cyberstalking, three counts of transmitting a threat to injure someone, and one count of impersonating an officer of the United States, in this case, an FBI agent.

As part of a plea agreement on March 15, 2023, he pleaded guilty to two counts of cyberstalking, and the remaining counts were dismissed.

"Julyen Alonzo Martin is an abusive stalker who raged over losing power and control over his ex-wife," threatening her and her stepfather, who he has never met, prosecutors wrote in urging the maximum sentence.

"In his whirlwind of harassment, Martin falsely claimed J.L. was a pedophile and even contacted J.L.'s employer and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children with this baseless, harmful accusation," they wrote.

Martin and T.A. were married and had a child together, prosecutors wrote. After the child's birth, Martin became physically, verbally and emotionally abusive, at one point grabbing T.A.'s hair and slamming her head on the ground, then taking her cell phone so she could not call for help. T.A. moved from Colorado to New York with her child to flee abuse in 2019.

After their relationship ended, prosecutors said, Martin cyberstalked from at least September 2020 through December 2021, ordering her to drop the divorce, and threatening to kill her, sending a message that read "GIVE ME MY SON OR YOUR LIFE IS OVER" and that others around were "all dead." When the police arrived to arrest him, he said, "Someone going to die." He also threatened to beat T.A.'s boyfriend to death. As the threats multiplied, T.A, had to shut down her online business, move residences and change her phone number.

J.L lived in Ohio where he "worked in leadership in a private school" and Martin texted T.A. that he was going to beat and kill J.L. and was inside J.L.'s workplace, prosecutors wrote. He posed as an FBI agent, calling the school, claiming the FBI was searching J.L.'s office and that J.L was investigating him for "exploited trafficked children." J.L.'s workplace conducted an internal investigation in "response to Martin's false allegations against J.L." that cost the school about $22,000, according to the school board's president, the prosecutors wrote.