US man sentenced for cyberstalking father of Parkland school shooting victim

A man who sent hundreds of repulsive online messages to the father of a high school student killed in the Parkland mass shooting was sentenced in Miami federal court to a year behind bars.

James Catalano, 62, who had pleaded guilty to cyber harassment, must also spend three years of supervised release after he gets out of prison. He has until Nov 29 to surrender to the US Marshals Service at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr US Courthouse in Miami, records show.

The California resident, sentenced Friday, admitted to authorities that he sent more than 200 vile messages to Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter was one of 17 people killed at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, because the author and gun safety advocate “was using his dead daughter to push his political agenda”, according to a criminal complaint.

In a Tuesday phone call with the Miami Herald, Guttenberg said he hopes Catalano’s sentence sends a strong message to people who engage in online harassment in the United States.

“It needs to be clear to everybody in America that if you engage in online harassment, there is a chance you will be arrested and prosecuted,” Guttenberg said.

Starting in December 2021, Catalano sent a slew of harassing messages to Guttenberg through the contact page of Orange Ribbons for Gun Safety, a nonprofit he founded to reduce gun violence by advocating for gun safety policies and candidates.

Many of these messages referred to his daughter Jaime Guttenberg, the manner of her death, and her pain and suffering as she was murdered along with other students and staff on Feb 14, 2018. The messages, which were also included in the criminal complaint, also mentioned Fred Guttenberg’s gun safety advocacy. They also showed support for former President Donald Trump and disdain for President Joe Biden and the LGBTQ community, according to Catalano’s criminal complaint.

Among the messages: Catalano said that Fred Guttenberg was never going to be happy after his daughter’s murder and that she was “rotting in hell”.

“We are having a party every night of this fantastic Parkland trial,” Catalano said. “So glad to celebrate blood and death.”

In another message, Catalano wrote: “Just got my concealed carry permit. Wish (Jaime) was alive so I could show it to her. But, damn… she got slaughtered and is now in hell.”

Guttenberg said he felt threatened but that he never considered giving up his gun safety advocacy. Last year, he published a book he coauthored called American Carnage: Shattering The Myths That Fuel Gun Violence.

“My daughter was murdered in school,” Guttenberg said Tuesday. “That’s all that matters to me.”

Catalano continued sending the hateful content until at least June of 2022 — seven months after he began the rants, according to court documents. In July, Catalano admitted to law enforcement to be the author.

“Catalano further stated that he believes that Fred Guttenberg was using his dead daughter to push his political agenda, that Catalano did not like that Guttenberg was doing that, and that Catalano was trying to put Guttenberg in check by sending him the messages,” an FBI agent said in the criminal complaint.

In November, school shooter Nikolas Cruz received a prison sentence of life without parole for each of the slain victims and the 17 others he wounded during the massacre. – Miami Herald/Tribune News Service