The following is a page posted by Richard Hillyard to his web site at atlga.com on March 29, 1997. The page has not been altered in any way other than:
  1. adding this explanatory text
  2. adding some anchor references for easier navigation
  3. and removing his font specifications, as he used an incredibly small font for most of the page for some foolish reason.

Cynthia Smathers has been stalking my family for almost a year now. I have never met this woman, nor talked to her on the phone. She has had her friends call me in the middle of the night, and she has called from a cell phone on a number of occasions. Fortunately we have gotten records of all these calls. She called my employer and they basically think she is a nut. She then called my church and spoke to someone there. Our pastor called us a few minutes later and said that the "crazy woman" had contacted them. The solicitor of Dekalb County has given us copies of all her evidence for a "stalking" trial, and it is a joke. All of it is emails that were sent to her from various people, or are posts talking about how crazy she is. None of it falls under the stalking statute and that is why this still has not gone to trial. In addition, no one can tell where any of it originated. I have copies of plenty of exchanges she has had with people arguing and calling each other names.

She apparently was a very good high school student, was has been an underachiever since then, not even getting a 2 yr. college degree.

Yesterday, March 27, 1997 she hacked my web site and downloaded my quicken files and some business spreadsheets as well as some Usenet posts that several Mindspring users have been forwarding to me. I will say unequivocally, that Mark Barnett has never forwarded anything from Mindspring to me. I do have some friends on Mindspring that do not live in Atlanta, and they want this woman committed, so they send me everything she posts, good or bad.

Mindspring's Acceptable Use Policy states...

"Privacy violations:
Attempts, whether successful or not, to gain access to any computer system, or customer's data, without consent is prohibited. "

Following are the logs where she kept digging in my website until she was successful in getting into a password protected directory.

  1. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:54:25 -0500] "GET /data HTTP/1.0" 302 -
  2. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:54:27 -0500] "GET /data/ HTTP/1.0" 200 2042
  3. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:54:33 -0500] "GET /data/Hillyard%20Technical%20Services.doc
  4. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:55:02 -0500] "GET /data/cyn1.doc HTTP/1.0" 200 49664
  5. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:55:22 -0500] "GET /data/info HTTP/1.0" 200 163
  6. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:57:10 -0500] "GET /data/NEW.ABD HTTP/1.0" 200 2270
  7. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:57:14 -0500] "GET /data/NEW.EML HTTP/1.0" 200 8931
  8. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:57:48 -0500] "GET /data/NEW.QDB HTTP/1.0" 200 177152
  9. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:58:51 -0500] "GET /data/NEW.QEL HTTP/1.0" 200 25600
  10. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:58:55 -0500] "GET /data/NEW.QMD HTTP/1.0" 200 23384
  11. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:58:59 -0500] "GET /data/NEW.QSD HTTP/1.0" 200 10984
  12. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:59:02 -0500] "GET /data/PACK590.ABD HTTP/1.0" 200 326
  13. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:59:08 -0500] "GET /data/PACK590.QDB HTTP/1.0" 200 72704
  14. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:59:10 -0500] "GET /data/PACK590.QEL HTTP/1.0" 200 25600
  15. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:59:13 -0500] "GET /data/PACK590.QMD HTTP/1.0" 200 6413
  16. user-207-69-140-46.dialup.mindspring.com - - [27/Mar/1997:22:59:17 -0500] "GET /data/PACK590.QSD HTTP/1.0" 200 14745

Here is a post by her the next day where she acknowledges downloading personal information, without my consent and then tries to cover her butt by saying it was not protected. Here is another post where she came back trying to get at that info again! Are we showing a certain pattern of behavior here? Thanks to my friends keeping me updated. Regardless, she downloaded the info without my consent, and even an unsuccessful attempt is a violation of Mindspring's AUP. In addition, Judge Workman will want to know why she needed to have this information so badly.

In the past year, this woman has ...

  1. Gotten my address and phone number.
  2. Driven by my house twice. I have witnesses who will testify. The tag numbers were traced to her.
  3. Called my house repeatedly from a cell phone. Phone records will bear this out.
  4. Contacted and harassed both employers.
  5. Contacted my church complaining that I worked with children. (I still do) They laughed at her.
  6. Contacted the Boy Scouts. They still let me be an unofficial leader.
  7. Contacted organizations I have never been affiliated with for no reason.
  8. Hacked my website, stealing my checkbook records.
  9. Contacted the Associated Press. We went over the reporters head to his boss to give them the "real story".
  10. Had her friends send email to my son telling him to kill me.
  11. Posted Usenet messages that I was gay. Fortunately the remailer traced them back for us. I received calls for months on this one.
  12. Posted Usenet messages in Mindspring's groups that I am a pedophile.

Who is doing the stalking? This is a woman who I got into an argument with a year ago. I forged cancelled some messages that called me a pedophile and Mindspring cancelled my account. No big deal, what I did was not against the law. She then decided that any time someone attacked her that it must be me. She complained to the CDC where I worked. They have proven now and I have a notarized statement, that any posts there did not come from me. She was the subject of many jokes there because of her web site and there were many who were messing with her. She did get me fired for "falsifying company records" because I did lie about not having been arrested on my Employment app. I was arrested in Florida for breaking into my ex-wife's house to get my clothes and college class ring. I then took my children out of state because she would not let me see them. They are grown and we have had an excellent parent/child relationship for 25 years. I was employed by a company and left to go to a competitor. My company owed me over $5,000, so I took a printer. That was wrong and I admitted it. When they came to get the printer they found a computer I bought at a pawn shop. It was stolen, and I was charged with theft by receiving. Those charges were dropped since I had receipts. 5 years ago, I used a credit card I should not have used. I will not offer any excuses as what I did was wrong. I admitted it right away. The only person I have ever had problems with is my ex-wife who has been through 6 marriages. (Ms. Smathers has been through 3). I was asked to be a scout leader. I was asked to teach at my church. I was asked to be a deacon, even though I had a record. Ms. Smathers found out about my record and chose to post it all over the net, call my employers and tell them, call my church and the scouts and tell them and anyone else who would listen. WHO IS DOING THE STALKING? For a woman who I have never spoken to, seen, etc., she sure is disturbed.

All of this and every post she has made in the past 2 years will be presented in court. Another judge has stated that even if I had done all that she is alleging, that it would not have broken any laws. She originally charged me with simple assault, which was totally off the mark in regards to her evidence. Stalking is even a farther reach, and that is what the solicitor is having a problem with. She is harassing him "big time" though and has him between a rock and a hard place.

In conclusion, this woman is obviously disturbed. Why would she go digging into my personal website which is being setup for a business my wife and I are starting. She ridiculed the phone service we are selling, even though it is the one Clark Howard, a local consumer advocate, has been touting now for 2 years. When thes is over, we do plan to file a civil lawsuit and already have the attorney who will do it for 40% of what we can get. I doubt she has much but it will be fun.

Anyway, stay tuned here for updates.