Laura D’Elia felt at ease when Daniel Pfeiffer was in jail.

For the first time in years she didn’t have to worry about Pfeiffer posting fake nude photos of her online, or creating a social media account in her name to make lewd comments.

But on Monday, a judge in Hackensack ordered the former Old Tappan firefighter’s release, after he spent exactly one year in the Bergen County Jail. And D’Elia, who once dated Pfeiffer, remained skeptical that the harassment would stop.

“I feel like I live two different lives, one when you’re in jail and I feel like I can breathe, and one when you’re out and I’m constantly living in fear of what you’re doing and what you’re posting,” she said in court Monday.

Pfeiffer, 29, has been arrested three times since 2015 for similar crimes related to stalking, cyber harassment and posting the likenesses of dozens of women without their consent.

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D’Elia was his victim for more than seven years, in which she endured awkward conversations with her parents and employers about finding fake pictures of her online. In other instances, D’Elia said Pfeiffer impersonated her in explicit online chatrooms.

Authorities charged Pfeiffer with invasion of privacy last November. On Monday, a judge approved a plea deal on that charge that included a sentence of five years' probation, and took into account the year of jail time.

As part of the deal, Pfeiffer can use the internet only for work purposes and cannot own a personal laptop, a video game system or Apple products. He is also barred from volunteering as a firefighter.

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The strict terms stem from “compulsive and repetitive” behavior Pfeiffer has exhibited over the years, Judge James Guida said Monday.

Pfeiffer was first charged Dec. 14, 2015, with stalking and invasion of privacy. In that instance, Pfeiffer and another man made social media accounts in a woman's name without her knowledge or consent. They also uploaded sexually explicit images of the woman to those accounts. He pleaded guilty to stalking on Feb. 6.

On June 10, 2016, Pfeiffer was arrested again and faced charges including invasion of privacy, identity crime impersonation and cyber harassment, according to court records. Pfeiffer pleaded guilty to stalking on Sept. 15. His internet use was restricted.

“He literally gets out and starts posting pictures again,” said Katie Krausz, who fell victim to Pfeiffer’s schemes nearly a decade ago.

The photos posted of Krausz by Pfeiffer came as a surprise to her, she said. Their fathers knew each other. Krausz's father is a volunteer firefighter in Old Tappan. Krausz said Pfeiffer was a family friend but it never went beyond that.

Then, in April 2011, Krausz said, she received "lewd comments" on Facebook and figured her account had been hacked. She then saw her face plastered online with a nude body, and discovered pictures of other girls Pfeiffer knew, from high school and college.

Pfeiffer, however, was not charged with a crime, after the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office told her the couldn't prove a crime was committed.

“The police have said as long as it’s online, there’s nothing we can do. Just stop Googling yourself and it will go away,” Krausz said.

Since then, she has felt compelled to disclose when starting a job or a relationship that fake nude photos of herself existed on the internet.

“I’ve been dealing with this for 10 years now," Krausz said. "It’s an embarrassing thing for me."

Pfeiffer declined to speak when prompted by the judge on Monday. Raymond Flood, his attorney, called the plea deal a “reasonable resolution to a difficult case.”

But for D’Elia, Pfeiffer’s release came too soon.

“Somehow I’ve been given a life sentence, and all you got was one year,” she said.



