Seattle police student officer charged with cyberstalking

SEATTLE (AP) — A Seattle police student officer has been charged with cyberstalking for allegedly harassing a woman online.

The Seattle Times reports Jafar Al-Salehi is accused of sending messages and texts to the woman from November 2021 into August 2022, according to a criminal complaint.

The cyberstalking charge is a gross misdemeanor. It wasn’t immediately known if Al-Salehi has a lawyer to comment on the case.

Al-Salehi, 22, is still in his probationary period within the department’s field training program. He has been placed on unpaid leave, police said Wednesday.

Al-Salehi first messaged the woman through a dating app on Nov. 8, 2021, according to charges filed by the Seattle City Attorney’s Office.

They met a West Seattle diner Nov. 11 and the woman later went with him to his home, where he insisted on showing her his badge and firearm, according to the charges.

The woman decided to not continue seeing Al-Salehi, the charges say. She told police that he continued to send her messages via Instagram and when she blocked him, he created another account, according to the charges. Al-Salehi also sent her messages on Facebook, followed by messages on OKCupid to apologize for being “rude,” charging documents say.

The woman told police he kept sending messages and then received a text from Al-Salehi although she never gave him her phone number, according to the charges.

She told police she was worried about Al-Salehi’s access to a firearm, the charges say.