Los Angeles model says she was cyberstalked

Kourtney Reppert from her Facebook page.

Updated: July 29, 2012 5:18PM

Earlier this year, Los Angeles model Kourtney Reppert was headed for a trip to Colorado with friends on a private plane when they stopped for a moment to take a photo at the airport.

They happened to be standing in front of another plane when they snapped the shot and later posted it on Facebook.

Afterward, the 26-year-old Reppert got a chilling email message.

It cited the private plane’s number in the photo, who owned the plane, where the plane had traveled and one more thing:

“It said they would kill me,” Reppert said Wednesday.

For several weeks, the threats against Reppert, who has more than 200,000 online fans, grew more frequent and more vicious, the model told the Sun-Times in an interview Wednesday.

“I was really freaked out by it,” she said. “They knew my old address. They knew my parents’ address. It was really scary.”

This week, the man the FBI believes was behind the threats was arrested in his Chicago home.

Luis F. Plascencia, of the 5400 block of North Lovejoy, was charged with cyberstalking Reppert.

Family members of Plascencia could not be reached for comment.

Reppert, whose Facebook page has dozens of photos of Reppert modeling in sometimes revealing attire, said the emails eventually threatened that if she did not stop modeling, she and her family were going to be killed.

A criminal complaint filed in federal court charges that among the messages sent to Reppert were: “I will f---in’ kill you” … “I will kill your parents” … “I hope you catch AIDS.”

Among the most disturbing to Reppert was a threat from the person saying the individual wished she would die in a car accident …

“I hope … it crushes your face through a windshield and a large piece of glass cuts your throat,” the message said, according to federal charges.

Plascencia allegedly bragged to her that he knew the names and addresses of her parents, family and friends, according to charges.

“I know where you are most of the time and if I don’t, I can find out from one of your friends,” another one of the messages threatened, charges say.

Reppert describes herself as a professional model, entrepreneur and Internet personality.

At one point, the person threatening her allegedly ticked off a list of what he wanted her to do to make the threats stop.

“My demands are, stop modeling, go back to college, and be someone else. Delete all of your accounts,” including on Facebook and Twitter, the message said.

Reppert hired a private detective and reached out to the FBI.

Plascencia allegedly used 11 different email accounts on Chicago Public Library computers and his home computer to send her more than three dozen harassing messages since March 8, the complaint alleged.

Some of the messages included the model’s former address and birth date, information on her whereabouts, names and addresses of family members and a threat to publicly expose her personal information.

Law enforcement searched his Northwest Side home Tuesday and allegedly found hundreds of photos of the model, some of which were set to music in a slide show and one of which was allegedly sent in one of the harassing messages.

Authorities also claim they found handwritten papers in his bedroom tracking the number of followers on the woman’s social media profiles and websites, contact information for her and her friend, and a paper detailing designs and locations of her two tattoos.

The complaint claims Plascencia initially denied knowing the model in an interview with FBI agents but later admitted to sending the photos. A neighbor told authorities he helped the man erase several computer hard drives before his arrest, charges say. Plascencia is being held in a downtown lockup and is expected to appear in court on Friday.

Reppert said she has changed her security setting on Facebook but has not taken down photos, describing it as her livelihood. She said she would testify if ever needed.

“I want to be able to walk into a room, show my face and say, “You didn’t break me. Your words didn’t stop me.”

This is the second time in recent years that a cyberstalking suspect has been arrested in Chicago. In 2009, FBI agents in Chicago arrested a Westmont traveling salesman on charges that he had secretly videotaped ESPN broadcaster Erin Andrews while she was in her hotel room.

Prosecutors had said that Michael David Barrett held a dangerous “obsession” with Andrews and had followed her to different cities, found her hotels, ground down the peepholes to her rooms with a hacksaw and held up a cell phone to record the broadcaster when she was naked.

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