An Ann Arbor family is furious at the plea deal extended to a former Skyline High School student who is accused of threatening a teenage girl over an anonymous social network.

Rishi Ragsdale

Rishi Ragsdale, who was a 19-year-old freshman at University of Wisconsin-Madison when he was arrested, faces a charge of transmitting a communication containing a threat to injure another person, documents show.

Ragsdale, who attended Skyline, was arrested in Madison, Wisconsin, in December and charged before being sent back to Ann Arbor and charged again on Jan. 10 in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan. Ragsdale was originally charged in Wisconsin, but needed to move back to Ann Arbor to live with his parents so the charges were dropped in Wisconsin and refiled in Detroit.

According to a now-sealed affidavit viewed on The Smoking Gun, a news website, Ragsdale described how he wanted to sexually assault a 14-year-old Ann Arbor girl and made several references to cutting apart her body. The statements, made on the social networking site Ask.Fm, terrified the girl, who printed them out and showed her mother and stepfather.

That led to a federal investigation, charges against Ragsdale and now frustration for the family who — after moving the alleged victim out of state because she feared for her safety — believes justice isn’t being done because of a plea deal offered to Ragsdale. Under the terms of the deal, the charges would be dropped if Ragsdale completes a two-year term of pretrial diversion.

“We keep feeling like we’re getting it thrown back in our face, again and again, by the conditions of his bond not being upheld to the letter of the law,” the girl’s stepfather said, “and they (U.S. attorneys) have more regard for his wellbeing and his future than (the girl)’s.”

The Ann Arbor News is not naming the girl or her stepfather because she is a juvenile and the alleged victim of a crime involving sexual threats.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Mulcahy — the lead prosecutor on the case — said the offer extended to Ragsdale, which could be approved by a judge on Thursday, is in the best interest of justice. He added that he’s considered the girl’s family’s thoughts the whole time.

“We’ve met with them multiple times for lengthy periods of time and we have considered their desires in the case and their views on the case, and that’s gone into our analysis of how to resolve the case.”

The accusations

Ragsdale and the girl first came into contact on Oct. 13 when the girl used Ask.fm to ask Ragsdale if he went to Skyline High School. Ask.fm is a social networking platform that allows users to anonymously ask others anything. It can connect to other social networks that use names, such as Twitter and Facebook.

The user — whose IP address was later tracked to Ragsdale’s dorm room — responded by telling the girl he would like to cut her open with a butcher’s knife, according to the affidavit. More graphic threats followed, many involving violent sexual acts the user said he would like to perform on the girl.

The girl had linked her profile to her Facebook, which led her family to believe the user making the statements could track her down.

“While the anonymous individual could himself remain anonymous when answering (the girl)’s questions on Ask.fm, the anonymous individual could access and view (the girl)’s Facebook and Twitter profile information,” the affidavit states, “including photos as well as personal and geographical information.”

Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Sean Nicol received the case from the Ann Arbor Police Department and contacted the FBI’s legal attache in Riga, Latvia, where Ask.FM is based. The attache asked Ask.fm to release the user’s IP address and the company did so, according to the affidavit.

Nicol then tracked the IP address to UW in Madison. Nicol then used a subpoena to get all identifying information from that IP address for Oct. 13, 2013, which came back to an Internet account with the username “rragsdale,” according to the affidavit.

Ragsdale lived alone and said he owned the laptop used to make the threats. The affidavit stated he was the only person with access to the laptop.

Douglas Mullkoff, Ragsdale’s attorney, declined to comment on the case. Email messages to Ragsdale’s parents were not returned and attempts to contact their home were not successful.

Not feeling heard

After Ragsdale was arrested, he was eventually brought back to Ann Arbor to live with his parents, a decision that made the girl’s family uneasy.

“As far as I’m concerned, he should have stayed in Wisconsin,” the girl’s stepfather said.

The girl’s stepfather believes Ragsdale has broken the terms of his bond — which included not contacting minors without adult supervision, not using a computer and not going near Skyline High School — on multiple occasions. When Ragsdale started riding his bike by the family’s home — unknowingly, according to prosecutors — concerns started to turn to fear.

Ragsdale’s presence in Ann Arbor was so unnerving to the family that the girl eventually decided to leave her mother and stepfather to move out of the state.

“She’s been in counseling. She’s a very strong person,” her stepfather said. “But, she’s got cracks in her armor and she wanted to leave.”

It was one of the first moments the family became unhappy with U.S. attorneys. While a new bond condition banned Ragsdale from coming near the family’s home, the girl’s stepfather still says he sees Ragsdale riding his bike regularly.

He also said he noticed Ragsdale on a cellphone, which he believed to be a smartphone, which could possibly violate his bond. The girl’s stepfather said he doesn’t believe prosecutors took the conditions of Ragsdale’s bond seriously enough.

“She said she never wanted to see him,” he said. “They didn’t protect (her from) that because he’s riding by our house.”

In June, discussions began between Mulcahy and the family about a possible plea deal for Ragsdale. In a series of emails lasting until late this month, Mulcahy detailed the offer Ragsdale would receive: Pretrial diversion, which would mean Ragsdale would be treated as if on probation for two years, with a series of conditions set up by Mulcahy and other U.S. attorneys.

If Ragsdale completes that program, the charges would be dropped. He would not be convicted of anything and would have his record cleared.

“In light of all the facts, including the defendant’s age at the time of the offense and multiple mental health assessments, we have sought to find a resolution that is in the best interest of public and victim safety and the ends of justice,” Mulcahy said. “This resolution is an appropriate intervention that permits us to monitor the defendant while ensuring mental health assessments for two years.”

But, for the girl’s family, that’s not good enough.

The girl’s stepfather said he believes Ragsdale should have to face trial in front of a jury. The fact that a conviction would likely end up with Ragsdale serving probation doesn’t bother him.

“I really don’t care if he gets jail time,” he said. “I want this felony stamped on his record."

Numerous emails exchanged between the girl’s family and prosecution officials show the family had expressed anger over the deal many times. But all that remains now is for a judge to approve the deal at a hearing at 10 a.m. Thursday.

“He’ll have gotten away with it if he gets the plea deal,” the girl’s stepfather said.”

Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for The Ann Arbor News. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@mlive.com or you can follow him on Twitter. Find all Washtenaw County crime stories here.