Former track coach from Chicago pleads guilty to tricking female student-athletes into sending him nude photos

BOSTON - A former college track and field coach from Chicago pleaded guilty Tuesday in connection with a scheme to trick women across the country into sending him nude or semi-nude photos.

Steve Waithe, 30, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of wire fraud, one count of cyberstalking, one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and one count of computer fraud, aiding and abetting. 

According to prosecutors, Waithe previously worked as a track and field coach at several academic institutions, including Northeastern University, Penn State University, Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Tennessee and Concordia University Chicago.

While working as a track coach at Northeastern, Waithe requested the cell phones of female student-athletes under the pretense of filming them at practice and meets. He then covertly sent himself explicit photos of the victims that had previously been saved on their phones.

As early as February 2020, Waithe began perpetrating a scheme to dupe women into sending him nude or semi-nude photos of themselves, specifically by using anonymized social media accounts to contact prospective victims.

He would then claim that he found compromising photos of them online and offer to help get the photos removed from the internet.

Waithe also requested additional nude or semi-nude photos from victims so that he could purportedly use them for "reverse image searches."

Additionally, prosecutors say he used at least two female personas, "Katie Janovich" and "Kathryn Svoboda " in an effort to obtain nude or semi-nude photos of women.

Under the purported premise of an "athlete research" or "body development" study, Waithe would email prospective victims pretending to be "Katie" or "Kathryn" and describe a phony study for athletes. He then requested information about their height, weight, body fat and diet habits.

The emails also requested victims to send photos of themselves in order to "track their progress" and recommended that the photos show the women in a "uniform or bathing suit to show as much skin as possible," prosecutors said.

Additionally, the emails often included attachments of sample nude and semi-nude images to illustrate the types of photos that the victims should send. 

Investigators identified over a dozen fake social media accounts used by Waithe and hundreds of photos sent from dozens of victims who thought they were emailing someone who was legitimately conducting a research study. 

From at least June 2020 to October 2020, Waithe also cyberstalked one victim through text messages and direct messages sent from social media, as well as by hacking into her Snapchat account.

Additionally, Waithe texted and sent nude photos of the victim to the victim's boyfriend, saying, "I wanted to make you aware that someone hacked your girlfriend’s snapchat account and will leak it soon. I need your help to assure this does not happen."  

Waithe continued to send harassing and intimidating messages to the victim and her boyfriend for about five months.

The messages included explicit photos that Waithe had stolen from the victim's phone when she was on the Track and Field team at Northeastern. 

In October 2020, Waithe conspired with another person to hack into Snapchat accounts and gained access to at least one account and its private "My Eyes Only" folder that contained nude or semi-nude photos. Waithe then provided his co-conspirator with the usernames and phone numbers for the Snapchat accounts of at least 15 women.

The two used the information to craft and send text messages purporting to be from the "Snapchat Support Team" and requesting security information, through which they gained access to at least one account. 

While investigating, authorities determined that Waithe's internet browsing history included visits to webpages with titles like, "Can anyone trace my fake Instagram account back to me?" and "How to Hack Someones Snapchat the Easy Way."

Additional searches included, "how to hack snapchat with a username and phone number.

"Mr. Waithe’s conduct is despicable. For almost a year, he manipulated, exploited and in one case stalked young women across the county hiding behind a web of anonymized social media accounts and fabricated personas he engineered. Mr. Waithe maliciously invaded the lives of dozens of innocent victims and inflicted real trauma. He now knows no one can hide from justice – even anonymously behind a keyboard," said Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy.

Waithe is scheduled for sentencing on March 6.