CRANBURY -- A Cranbury man is scheduled to appear in court next week to face charges of harassment and stalking for allegedly sending threatening e-mails and online messages to a North Carolina woman last year.

Beth Harrison alleges that she received a string of e-mails between Jan. 31, 2012 and Feb. 23, 2012 from a person she discovered was Robert Smithers Jr., the CEO of Miercom, a technology company based in East Windsor that tests, reviews and analyzes technology products.

Smithers, 45, is charged with two disorderly persons offenses alleging stalking and harassment. He is expected to appear in municipal court in Plainfield on Wednesday.

Harrison said the two were members of a sexual fetish website and initially exchanged friendly e-mail, but then she decided to block Smithers' access to her and he somehow obtained her personal e-mail and began sending messages anonymously.

Harrison said that although the sender at first seemed harmless she was wary because the e-mails, were sent to a private address she had not shared with anyone.

“There were only two people who knew my e-mail address,” Harrison said in a recent phone interview.

When she asked how sender, who signed the e-mail as Rob, got her address, she said the messages grew more hostile and threatening. She was afraid he would find her address online and come to her house, she said.

“All you had to do was Google my e-mail and there was all my information,” Harrison said. “I started worrying who was going to show up. I just went into total panic mode.”

Harrison said that the e-mails referred to posts she had made on a social networking website for people with sexual fetishes and threatened to expose her alternative sexual lifestyle to others.

“He more or less was going to ruin me,” Harrison said.

At the same time that Smithers was sending “threatening and bullying” messages to her, she received e-mails in which he said “I mean you no harm.”

Harrison sent him a cease and desist letter, but he continued to send messages and his tone became more aggressive, she said.

“Just the hatefulness of his messages literally sent me into tears,” she said.

It took a year, Harrison said, to investigate the messages and bring charges against Smithers. She even hired a private investigator to help.

Harrison said the Cranbury police were slow to investigate the harassment and said they did so only after she took the matter to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.

After the investigation, Smithers was issued a summons and was criminally charged on March 7.

The Cranbury police declined to comment about their investigation for this story.

According to complaints filed with the court, Smithers allegedly sent “harassing and menacing e-mails” to Harrison and had “repeated unwanted e-mail contact” with her.

Smithers’ attorney Seth Kurs declined to comment about the allegations made by Harrision.

Harrison said she will continue to seek prosecution of Smithers because she hopes to inspire other victims of harassment to confront the cyber bullies in their lives.

“We are victims of these crimes,” Harrison said. “Something should be done.

Harrison said once the criminal proceedings are concluded she intends to file a lawsuit against Smithers.



Contact Jenna Pizzi at jpizzi@njtimes.com or at (609) 989-5717.

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