The man accused of leaving sexual and threatening messages for a woman he friended on Facebook appeared in court in Bristol on Monday morning and the judge called him a "serial predator."
Plainville Police said Bryan Oates, 25, used a fake name to friend the woman and managed to obtain some of her personal identifying information, including her phone number and address.
Police said Oates contacted the victim about 100 times over a couple weeks in late March, when she was in Bristol and Plainville, and left many voice-mails and text messages.
Many of them had sexual overtones, police said. In some, Oates threatened to harm himself and the victim because she was not cooperating in furthering their relationship, police said.
The woman told police she was “terrified” of Oates.
When Oates met with police, he admitted to contacting the woman about 100 times and to doing this sort of thing to other women after contacting them through social media, such as Facebook.
"During the interview Mr, Oates not only admitted to harassing this young woman, but admitted that he does this occasionally to other women, initiating contact on such online sites as Facebook, trying to obtain other personal identifying information on these women, and then harassing them in various ways," Captain Brian Mullins, of Plainville Police, said.
Oates turned himself in at police headquarters and was arrested by arrest warrant on Friday, April 13.
He appeared in court on Monday, where his bond was set at $300,000. He is next due in court on May 25.
Oates was arrested in Plainville in December 2010 and convicted for what police said was a similar type incident, police said.
Court records show guilty verdicts for second-degree harassment cases in 2006, 2009, violation for a protective order and probation violations.
