Charges: Virginia man stalked Tulsa mayor over Trump rally

TULSA, Okla. —
A Virginia man has been charged with cyberstalking the mayor of Tulsa in a failed effort to stop President Donald Trump‘s campaign rally there last month.

Adam Maxwell Donn, of Norfolk, Virginia, sent emails and left voicemails for Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and his wife in which he harassed, threatened and tried to intimidate Bynum into cancelling the June 20 rally by Trump, prosecutors allege in federal court documents unsealed Friday from the Eastern District of Virginia.

Donn’s attorney, Jeffery Swartz, did not immediately reply to a Saturday phone message seeking comment.

Between June 11-22, Donn threatened to go to Bynum’s home, church and his wife’s office in addition to publishing the mayor's children’s cellphone numbers on social media, U.S. Attorney Trent Shores said in a statement.

Authorities also allege Donn masqueraded as Bynum's wife and sent threatening emails through her business account to her colleagues.

Shores said the emails were traced to Donn's account.

“Cyberstalkers try to hide behind keyboards while they threaten and intimidate others, but their online actions have real world effects,” he added.

Donn was arrested in Virginia and made his first court appearance there on Friday with a second appearance in Tulsa scheduled for July 22, Shores said.

The president's rally drew an estimated 6,200 people to Tulsa's 19,000-seat BOK Center, far short of the full house that was predicted.

Tulsa health director Bruce Dart publicly asked that the rally be postponed and Bynum, who joined in greeting Trump when he arrived at the Tulsa airport, said he would not attend.

Bynum's spokeswoman Michelle Brooks on Saturday told The Associated Press that he did not attend the Trump rally.

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Coronavirus cases in the city and Tulsa County spiked in the weeks following the rally and Dart said the event “likely” was the source of the increase.