Man pleads guilty to cyberstalking after harassing former MSU-Mankato classmate

A 28-year-old man pleaded guilty in connection to cyberstalking a former college classmate in southern Minnesota.

Jeffery Colin Purdy pleaded guilty to cyberstalking Monday in U.S. District Court.

According to the guilty plea and documents filed with the court, between Aug. 30, 2017 and Feb. 29, 2020 Purdy communicated threats to injure and kidnap a former classmate at Minnesota State University-Mankato.

Specifically, on Sept. 15, 2017, the Mankato Department of Public Safety received a complaint from a person saying she had received harassing emails from Purdy, who was a former classmate of hers at the university. While they were classmates, the victim had declined repeated romantic advances from Purdy and eventually blocked him on her phone and social media accounts.

From 2017 through 2020, Purdy used MSU-Mankato’s Silent Witness Report to anonymously make frequent, violent threats against the victim. The IP address used to make one of the threats was traced back to Purdy who in an interview on Feb. 29, 2020, admitted to sending all the Silent Witness Reports.