On Dec. 23 the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office charged Michael Andrew Hart, 43, with three counts of felony stalking, four counts of felony violation of a protection order, felony cyberstalking, felony harassment and six counts of disseminating private images.

“Protecting the community includes keeping up with new technology and new forms of harassment,” said Prosecutor Mark Lindquist. “Virtual actions can hurt real people.”

Hart was convicted in 2014 of attempting to elude, assault in the fourth degree, felony harassment, resisting arrest, and violation of a no contact order. The victim was Hart’s ex-girlfriend. Hart was sentenced last June and a permanent no contact order was put into place.

Hart was released from the Pierce County Jail on December 4, 2015. That same day the victim’s daughters and the victim herself began receiving Facebook messages sent from an account associated with Hart.

On February 13, 2016, a private Facebook Messenger message was sent to the victim from a fake Facebook account associated with Hart. It included sexually explicit photographs of the victim that were taken by Hart when he and the victim were in a relationship. On March 4, 2016, another private Facebook Messenger message was sent by Hart labeled “Karma.” This message also included explicit photographs.

The photographs depict the victim unconscious with marker drawings on her face and a dildo inside her. The victim said the pictures were not consensual. The explicit images of her were sent to everyone in her contact list, including her mother, her mother’s friends, her aunt and great-aunt, her children, her children’s friends and boyfriends, the parents of her children’s friends, and her friends from school and work. In addition to the pictures, digital videos of the victim performing sex acts were also sent out to her contacts.

The victim also said Hart assaulted her numerous times and threatened to kill her and people close to her. She said she believed him and lived in fear.

Bail is set at $300,000.00.

Charges are only allegations and a person is presumed innocent unless he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.