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Serge Agopian, a California man, is accused by federal authorities of sending threats that refer to raping and killing a college student whose mother authorities say he stalked and harassed for almost 30 years after seeing her at a party once in 1991.
His LinkedIn page says he’s worked as a finance and marketing rep; another web page says he’s also worked as a real estate agent.
The federal press release, issued September 8 by the United States Department of Justice, says that Agopian, 49, of Port Hueneme, California, was accused in a three-count indictment of “sending threatening communications in an email and letters sent through the U.S. Mail.”
The press release accuses Agopian of stalking and harassing the victim’s mother since they attended the University of California-Santa Barbara together.
“Beginning in the early 1990s, Serge Agopian who was then in his early 20s, became infatuated with VICTIM 1, a college student at the time, and began a 30-year pattern of stalking and harassing VICTIM 1 and her family,” the complaint alleges. The mother never dated nor had a relationship with Agopian.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. The Student’s Mother Claims Agopian Began Harassing Her After Seeing Her at a Party in 1991
Part of the indictment.
The press release describes a frightening campaign of alleged harassment that culminated in “three identical threatening communications he (Agopian) allegedly sent anonymously to the student in April.”
During the investigation, FBI agents interviewed the victim’s mother. According to the press release, she “described how Agopian apparently saw her at a party in 1991, contacted her ‘out of the blue’ even though they had never met, and began sending ‘unsolicited roses, cassette tapes with recorded love songs, poetry, letters, and condoms to her residence.’”
She asked Agopian to stop communicating with her, the release says, but believed he “continued to send packages anonymously after she moved to her parents’ residence – including roses with dog feces and an item that resembled a bomb.” That package contained a joker playing card with the words “You Lose” written on it, the indictment alleges.
2. Agopian Is Married With Children, According to His Facebook Page
FacebookSerge Agopian
Agopian’s Facebook page shows him with his wife and young children. The top photo shows a cloud forming the shape of a heart.
“Chillin with the fam…” he wrote with a 2016 picture.
The only other posts visible on his page are innocuous graphics, videos and memes.
3. The Student’s Mother Obtained Restraining Orders Against Agopian but Accused Him of Pushing Her Into a Shelf of Books at a College Bookstore
FacebookSerge Agopian with his family.
According to the press release, the mother “obtained restraining orders against Agopian that were in effect for nearly 10 years.” They didn’t work.
“Agopian continued to contact her, including in the fall of 1991 in the UCSB bookstore, where he pushed her into a shelf of books, resulting in Agopian’s arrest,” the release says.
The release says that Agopian, in turn, filed a defamation lawsuit against the mother. In addition, the woman and her family received “very vulgar, lewd, and obscene letters,” the release says. Her tires were deflated, she felt intentionally.
The complaint says that Agopian “went to law school but did not pass the moral character portion of the process” because of the restraining order. That led to the defamation suit. The mother was represented in the lawsuit by a man she later married and divorced, who is referred to as Victim 2 in the complaint.
4. Authorities Say They Found a Fingerprint Matching Agopian on a Letter Sent to the Student
Serge Agopian complaint.
The criminal complaint “notes that one of the letters sent to the victim in April had a fingerprint that matched fingerprints obtained from Agopian during the restraining order proceedings,” the press release says.
The indictment charges Agopian “with one count of threats by interstate communications and two counts of mailing threatening communications, each of which carries a statutory maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.” He was arrested on August 5 and will have an arraignment on September 15.
The law firm where the mother worked also received “vulgar” and negative emails about her but told her they didn’t believe them, the complaint says. Outside lawyers in her specialty received negative letters about her, too.
5. The Communication Talked About Raping & Killing the Daughter & Watching Her Play Sports
Serge Agopian complaint email description.
The anonymous email the student received said, according to the complaint:
Hi there. I enjoyed watching you play at Whittier, Cal Tech, and Cal Lutheran. Too bad I won’t be able to watch you play again for a while. You have a pretty smile. UC Santa Cruz is such a lovely campus. I just want you to know if I rape and kill you, it will be because your father is a thief and an evil traitor who associates with dangerous people and keeps secrets from you and your mother.
The student is a college athlete. She also received similar letters sent via traditional mail.
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