He accused me of stalking

Hillyard has repeatedly claimed that I've stalked him, which is a common delusion held by a certain type of stalker. As of 1/13/98, in fact, he had a web site entitled "I Am Being Stalked And Harassed By Cynthia Armistead, Atlanta Georgia." He's currently making a lot of noise claiming that I'm guilty of criminal defamation because of one the sections of this site is called "Why I'm sure Richard Hillyard is the stalker" He makes repeated references to various definitions of stalking, so he obviously knows what they are. Despite the fact that he has never presented any evidence of having been stalked (or even harassed), by me or anyone else, he turns around and calls me a stalker. The reasons he gives for this accusation include:

• I have "gotten" his phone number and address. Huh. That means that every telemarketer who has ever called me is a stalker. And the phone company—well, they might as well just turn themselves in right now! Hillyard has a published phone number and his street address is available in several of the people directories on the web. He has also published that information himself, on his own web pages! If he has a problem with people knowing where he lives and what his phone number is, he needs to step back and reasses his own actions in making that information public. Doing so, then harassing various people (including, but not limited to, myself), is doubly foolish.
  
  
• He claims I've called his house repeatedly. Not only have I never so much as dialed his number, I've never suggested that anyone else to do so! His number is listed. His name isn't a common one. He has enjoyed much notoriety for his activities. I do not doubt that someone has called him—but it wasn't me. Had I called him as many times as he claims, there would have at some time been 1) calls the phone company could trace to some number associated with me (I doubt they've even been requested to put a trace on his line); or at least 2) police reports filed with my name mentioned as the culprit. On one of his web pages he said I'd been calling him on a cell phone and that he was able to records of those calls—but it seems odd that he never gave those records to his lawyer to present to the prosecutor (which would likely have kept the case from even going to trial), and he never reported the calls to the police. You see, BellSouth will not take a harassing phone calls complaint unless the customer gives them the number of the police report proving that they've already spoken with the police. They will then release the trace records to the police—not to the customer or his lawyer. If the trace records show that harassing phone calls are being made, the police have the customer swear out a complaint and get a warrant for the caller's arrest. If the trace shows a pay phone, cell phone, or untraceable call, the police may or may not choose to tell the customers of the results, since no action can be taken. If Hillyard's claims had the least shred of credibility, I would have been arrested. That hasn't happened, because (as usual) he is lying.
  
  
• He says I've driven by his house twice, and that he has witnesses who'll attest to that and that the tag number on the vehicles were traced to me. Interesting. He cannot, of course, give specific dates, describe the vehicle(s) or give the tag number(s), nor did he report those supposed incidents to the police. I know approximately where he lives, but I haven't gone there. Had I been seen driving by simply to check him out, it would either fit or at least edge into the state of Georgia's legal definition of stalking, and I would have been arrested had he been able to make any credible report to the police. He hasn't, because I didn't drive by his house—just another false accusation.
  
  
• He says I've called his church and complained to them about him. I'm still waiting to find out the date I supposedly called and who I supposedly spoke to, and see phone company records verifying that such a call was ever made. It wasn't—I have no reason to contact his church and have not done so.
  
  
• I "contacted and harassed" his former employer, the CDC, and "made" them fire him. Actually, I and others contacted them to report abuse of their computer system. It was his decision to use their network maliciously. Reporting the misuse of government property is not stalking, and in fact had the FBI chosen to prosecute every non-work-related message Hillyard sent out of the CDC's internet gateway could have been considered a separate felony count. The fact that his misuse of the network triggered an investigation that revealed his dishonesty in concealing his criminal background, and that he was fired for that dishonesty, is simply a pleasant side effect of stopping the misuse of the CDC system. Hillyard chose to commit the crimes for which he was convicted, and he chose to lie about those convictions when seeking employment. I welcome any explanation of how I made that happen. Hillyard claims to have a notarized statement from the CDC saying that any posts made from their system did not come from him, but he cannot present that statment—and Hillyard's abuse of the CDC internet gateway was confirmed in testimony presented by his former boss, Jim Seligman, at the July 1997 trial. And, according to Mr. Seligman, neither he nor anyone else feels that I "harassed" anyone. They were very grateful to be informed of the problem.
  
  
• He says I "contacted and harassed" his current employer, Advanced Visual Systems (or the company that was his employer in December 1996/January 1997). I did contact them, to report that someone was using their internet gateway to flood atl.general and to issue forged cancellations. Several other people also reported the abuse. I haven't heard anything back from them about the inappropriate use of their gateway, abuse, but it did stop, which was the desired result. I'd contact any company whose computer systems were being used in that manner by anyone, and cannot see how that constitutes stalking of anyone. As for harassing them? I'll be happy to answer any such claims from the people I supposedly harassed when provided with the dates and details as to who and how I supposedly harassed them. Hillyard cannot provide such information, as he's lying again.
  
  
• Contacted the Boy Scouts. I spoke to the regional director of the Boy Scouts of America after an acquaintance who is an Eagle Scout learned that Hillyard was or claimed to be a Cubmaster. The director, Tim Cooper, requested a meeting and I was happy to oblige. Based on the information I gave Cooper, the BSA initiated its own background check, learning that Hillyard had lied to conceal his criminal background when he applied to be an adult volunteer with the Scouts. Cooper says he had a meeting with Hillyard, removed him from any association with Scouting, and informed him that he was not to claim any affiliation with the BSA. Hillyard claims he is still unofficially involved with them. I don't know if he is or not, but I respect the BSA and would happily meet with their people again if they so requested. Again, this isn't stalking—they wanted to talk to me.
  
  
• Had a friend email his child telling the boy to kill him. Not only have I never done any such thing, I've specifically asked that people not contact his wife or children. Another MindSpring user (the one whose name was used in the first four prostitution ads, and one of the people whose posts Hillyard repeatedly forge-cancelled) admitted that he had sent email to one of Hillyard's sons, and later said that he regretted it. As Hillyard had that email, he knew it didn't come from me—and I'm sure he knew of the public post from the person who did send it, as he has apparently been receiving copies of everything that goes on in the MindSpring newsgroups from various friends. (Later he said he'd had access to MindSpring directly for over a year through his employer.)
  
  
• Posted usenet messages saying that Hillyard is gay, that Hillyard was able to have traced back to me. And where are the records of that trace? They don't exist, which is why they haven't been presented. I have never posted any such messages about anyone. I carry out my activities on the net in my own name and in full public view. I have never made any anonymous posts about anyone, and have no intention of doing so. I found a message from the same fellow who sent email to Hillyard's son that was probably a pointer to ads posted in Hillyard's name, and a post I made responding to it saying I was afraid I'd be blamed for any such posts. Again, Hillyard says he was getting copies of anything by me or about him—so he knew that I wasn't the person who made any posts, and that I did not encourage anyone else to do so. In any case, why would someone who repeatedly used the .sig line "Little Dicky Workman's Boyfriend" and made comments like "we had a lovers spat and not you don't blow me anymore" have any objection to being called gay? (For what it's worth, I would consider calling Hillyard gay an insult to the entire queer community.)
  
  
• Posted usenet messages saying that Hillyard was a pedophile. In August 1996 I replied to someone else's posts that had the subject line "PEDOPHILE SODOMITES; Hillyard & Company on the next Geraldo" but I didn't assign the subject line, nor did I ever even see the original post (and, in fact, my post was a request for a copy of it—which was quoted in a threat he then emailed to me). He also says he cancelled posts in which someone called him a pedophile, and that was why MindSpring cancelled his account. There's a little chronological confusion, there, though—the word "pedophile" never appeared in anything until the August 16 thread in atl.general. In July 1997 Hillyard canceled many posts to mindspring.discussion from people who didn't agree with him, but in most cases the originator reposted the messages, and none of them contained the word "pedophile." Beginning 7/13/96, I have copies of cancellation messages Hillyard forged as fig@mindspring.com, subhuman@mindspring.com, essawy@mindspring.com, rturner@ecg.com, miseries@mindspring.com, aaaa@mindspring.com, tlewis@mindspring.com, halide@mindspring.com, bigred@mindspring.com, dbrewer@mindspring.com, and me, among others—and not one of the original messages said the first word about Hillyard being a pedophile.
  
  I think that at some time there may have been some speculation in MindSpring's newsgroups as to why Hillyard goes to such lengths to get access to other people's children—deliberately concealing his criminal background and so on—especially in light of the fact that he (or Dick Coward, who I believe, but cannot absolutely prove to be, Hillyard) sent sexually explicit email to a 5-year-old child, knowing full well that she was such a young child. It is worth noting that people who initiate sexually explicit communications with children are called "pedophiles." One of the first insults Hillyard has thrown at anyone who disagrees with him in newsgroups is "pedophile sodomite" (another is "known faggot and child molestor") which is probably why someone put that phrase in the subject line of the post to atl.general. One has to wonder why that phrase is the first that comes to him—sort of a "methinks he protests too much" thing. So while I do not recall accusing Hillyard of pedophilia in the past, I do believe he has certainly displayed behavior that gives one cause for suspicion.
  
  
• "Contacted organizations I have never been affiliated with for no reason." Goodness, the man does have memory problems, doesn't he? He seem to have forgotten the web page he published in January 1997 claiming affiliation with many highly respectable organizations (while attacking me with obscene language on the same page). Various people did contact some of those organizations and learned that 1) he was not associated with them, and 2) they most emphatically did not want him to claim affiliation with him. This isn't stalking, either.
  
  
• Told people of his criminal record. Wow—if that's stalking, do you think the sheriff's offices here in Georgia who maintain the sex-offender registries are going to be arrested for stalking? If Hillyard has a problem with people knowing that he is a multiply convicted felon he should have avoided the entire issue by not committing burglary, kidnapping, credit card fraud, theft, and other crimes.
  
  
• Repeatedly visited his website. Hillyard (or someone using his and his family members' names) has posted messages stating that they keep an eye on my own website—so if his definition were used, they would have admitted that they were stalking me. Using repeated visits to any website, though, as a definition of stalking is simply too silly to consider.
  
  
• Published his family's names and email address. Actually, I've only published the names and email addresses of those family members who have either posted messages/web pages attacking me, or whose names have been used in messages attacking me. Had my family members posted messages attacking Hillyard, I wouldn't be surprised to see their names and email addresses listed by him. That hasn't happened. Publication of information about those who aren't involved would be unethical, so there is no information anywhere on my site about Hillyard's other family members.

 

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