A former Niagara County man, who has already served time in federal prison for cyberstalking a Western New York woman, has been sentenced to five years in prison for the same crime.
Daniel Richter, 47, of Middle Island, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr. to five years in prison for cyberstalking. He had pled guilty to the charge in February.
Investigators with the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office and agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) took Daniel Richter, 45, into custody in an Amherst hotel room on March 27, 2024.
It was the latest arrest in a series of stalking and cyberstalking convictions for Richter.
Investigators said that Richter, in 2002, sent “bizarre emails to and followed a victim” that he had become acquainted with at the University at Buffalo. Then, according to investigators, in 2007 Richter started sending postcards “with strange messages” to the victim and leaving harassing voicemail messages on her work phone.
In April 2008, sheriff’s office investigators arrested Richter and charged him with fourth-degree stalking. Richter pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to pay a fine.
A Niagara County Court judge also issued an Order of Protection that barred Richter from any contact with his victim.
Investigators said a decade later, in 2018, Richter again began sending “unwanted communications, via phone calls and emails” to the same victim. Federal authorities arrested him and, in September 2020, he was convicted of interstate communication of threat to injure.”
Richter was sentenced to serve two years in federal prison for that conviction. In December 2023, federal agents said Richter was released from supervision after completing his sentence. Investigators said Richter immediately made attempts to contact his victim. Between Dec. 25, 2023, and Feb. 6, 2024, the victim said she received approximately 94 voice messages from Richter.
Between Feb. 6, 2024, and his arrest on March 27, 2024, Richter also sent more than 600 emails to the victim, which, according to investigators, included “incoherent rambling and sexual and/or threatening comments directed at the victim.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Franz M. Wright, who is handling the federal case, said between Dec. 24, 2023, and March 27, 2024, Richter sent hundreds of threatening and sexual emails to the victim’s personal email address. He threatened not only the victim, but members of her family as well. For instance, over a two-day period in February 2024, Wright said Richter sent more than 50 email messages to her personal email address, including one email mentioning her son by name. He also sent multiple emails and/or Google voicemails to the woman on an almost daily basis, which became more threatening as time progressed, including a threat to kill her.
In one of the emails, Richter reportedly wrote that he would travel to Western New York to see the victim, in person, on March 28, 2024.
Richter was located by law enforcement agents at a hotel in Amherst after flying to Buffalo from Los Angeles. Investigators said in Richter’s hotel room, they found a photograph of the victim, the victim’s contact information, a ski mask, and hair dye.