A Northern Indiana man was convicted last week for cyberstalking, according to a release.
Caleb Bonnell, 20, of Bringhurst, Indiana, was sentenced July 28 in the U.S. District Court in South Bend to three years in prison. He pleaded guilty in April to cyberstalking, filings show. After prison, he will serve two years on supervised release.
He “will spend some time in jail to think about his vicious choices,” U.S. Attorney Adam Mildred said in a statement.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lydia Lucius wrote in filings that Bonnell allegedly targeted an out-of-state victim and their father for online harassment, doxxing and swatting from September to December 2025, documents state.
Bonnell allegedly used at least three “fake” email addresses to contact the victim’s school, at various times, saying they “threatened to shoot up a mosque,” made “racially insensitive or offensive comments online,” and was ‘involved in “animal abuse, cheating, lying, manipulation, extortion, and even drugging and sexually assaulting someone,” she wrote, quoting his emails.
Lucius wrote Bonnell sent 75 messages to “at least 20” of the victim’s classmates via social media and at one point “posted (the victim’s) address online.” She alleged Bonnell “made several false reports to law enforcement” that the victim was in danger, so they would show up at their home. He also allegedly texted the victim’s father nearly 185 times, with some “in knowing violation of a restraining order,” she wrote.
Bonnell “told people online that he was going to ruin (the victim’s) life and wanted (them) to kill themself,” she added in the filing.
Defense lawyer Kurt Earnst wrote in court filings that his client admitted to online threats “as well as incidents of doxxing and swatting.” As a child, Bonnell endured physical and mental abuse and struggled with his mental health, the lawyer wrote.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Carroll County (Indiana) Police and San Diego Police Department investigated, a release stated.
Lucius added in her brief that Bonnell was previously allegedly “expelled from high school” for “threatening to bring a weapon to school.” At an adult learning center, he was expelled there for “wearing clothes containing white supremacy ideology” and “getting into confrontations” with other students.
After recording an online expulsion hearing, Bonnell “edited it” into a new video appearing to show “a school administrator hanging by a noose,” which he emailed to that person, the prosecutor alleged. She noted he had a pending felony intimidation case in another county court.
At some point, the FBI’s National Threat Operation Center was notified “due to (his alleged) radicalization and potential for future acts of violence,” she wrote.