Florida creep flew 4,000 miles to camp outside Oxford University in hopes astrophysicist would ‘be his Valentine’: report
A Florida man flew more than 4,000 miles to camp outside an astrophysicist’s office at Oxford University in hopes that she’d be his “valentine,” a court heard.
Augustine Lopez, 47, learned about Dr. Rebecca Smethurst through her YouTube channel and decided to travel to the famed university after sending her an array of messages on social media and to her email in hopes of meeting the scientist, according to The Telegraph.
He even had his bags sent to her office after landing at Heathrow Airport in London on Feb. 13.
“Mr. Lopez came to this country specifically with one sole purpose. That sole purpose was to stalk Dr. Rebecca Smethurst,” Prosecutor Kellie Enever told the Oxford Crown Court. “Mr. Lopez does not know her. All we say he knows about Dr. Smethurst is what he has acquired from social media.”
Lopez traveled to the foreign country with no hotel reservation and with a can of mace — which is illegal in the UK — according to the British outlet.
Prosecutors alleged the Melbourne, Florida native caused the Oxford researcher “serious distress and alarm” and his “unwanted contact” was “unsettling and impacted on her daily life,” The Telegraph said.
Lopez allegedly tried to enter her office, but was stopped by the receptionist. Afterward, she allegedly got a message on Instagram that said: “I found the building, but not you.”
Another message she discovered a month afterward, read: “I owe you a delightful time, be my Valentine.”
“The messages made me feel a mix of fear and revulsion. My skin was crawling that this person thought that I wanted to read this,” an emotional Smethurst told the court, according to The Telegraph. “It felt like such an invasion of my own life and privacy.”
She testified she has never met Lopez before.
