BIDDEFORD — A Biddeford man was indicted Thursday on federal charges of cyber stalking and identity theft. The man allegedly used email and the Internet to stalk his ex-girlfriend, who had changed her name and moved to Louisiana because of his behavior.

Shawn Sayer, 41, faces maximum federal prison sentences of 10 years for cyber stalking and five years for identity theft, as well as a $250,000 fine on each charge.

According to court documents, Sayer chatted with men through email and on the Internet, posing as his ex-girlfriend, and then invited them to her home with the promise of sex, all without her knowledge or consent.

The victim, identified in court documents as M.B. of South Portland, said she was terrified, feared for her safety and was afraid she would be raped because of the visits from strange men looking for sex that began in October 2008. In one incident, there was a physical altercation with one of the strangers that caused her to flee her home for a night.

After the visits started, M.B. discovered an advertisement on Craigslist that contained photos Sayer had taken of her before they broke up in January 2006 ”“ they had dated nearly four years. The listing, under “Casual Encounters,” also included step-by-step directions to M.B.’s home and a list of sexual acts she would perform.

M.B. reported to law enforcement authorities that Sayer was the only one who had access to the photos on the Craigslist posting.

Because of the harassment, in May 2009, M.B. legally changed her name and moved to Louisiana, where she lived with relatives, according to court documents.

But a few months later, the harassment began again.

On Aug. 24, 2009, another strange man showed up on her doorstep in Louisiana, and this man used her new name. Like the others, he said he met her on the Internet and wanted to have sex with her.

Other men showed up saying they had seen her on an adult website.

According to court documents, her relatives, who said at the time they also feared for their safety, corroborated these events.

When M.B. conducted a Google search of her new name, she told authorities she discovered video clips posted on adult pornography websites of her and Sayer having sex. She said the video had been consensually recorded and that Sayer had the only copy. The websites listed both her new and former names; they also included her Louisiana address.

M.B. also reported to police that she found a Facebook account opened under her new name that included her picture. She said she didn’t create the account.

It was through that Facebook account that Det. Laurie Northrup of the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit found an IP address assigned to a Time Warner Cable subscriber in Biddeford. The man’s home is across the street from a house owned by Shawn Sayer’s father, Maurice.

Police determined that Shawn Sayer lived at his father’s home in 2009. It was during the same time period that someone logged onto the Facebook account with M.B.’s information, from the neighbor’s IP address. Police determined that someone at Sayer’s home could have accessed the neighbor’s unsecure wireless Internet connection.

M.B. moved back to Maine in November 2009. She continued to find more profiles with her name on social networking websites, and strange men continued showing up at her home looking for sex and believing they had chatted with her on the Internet.

The Maine State Police Computer Crimes United executed a search warrant on July 1, 2010 at Sayer’s home. Among the items seized were a desktop computer and a laptop computer.

Numerous Yahoo! email accounts were located on the laptop that were associated with M.B., only two of which actually belonged to her.

U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Matthew Fasulo stated in his affidavit that he believed Sayer used those accounts to communicate with people while claiming to be M.B.

According to court documents, the state police computer crime unit also had evidence that Sayer had posted nude videos of M.B., with her Louisiana address, to adult pornography websites. They were uploaded to the websites during the time police believe Sayer was staying at his father’s home and had access to an unsecure wireless Internet connection.

Sayer will be arraigned on these charges in U.S. district court in Portland next week.

He is currently serving a 22-month sentence on related charges in state prison, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Darcie McElwee.

In June 2006, in York County Superior Court in Alfred, Sayer was convicted of stalking M.B. In February 2008, he was also convicted of violating a protection from abuse order that M.B. had obtained against him.

Sayer is due to be released in September from state prison, said McElwee.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.