Peekskill 'Incel' Sentenced To Prison For Stalking, Threatening

PEEKSKILL, NY — A northern Westchester man, who self-describes as "involuntary celibate," who admitted in court that he terrorized and harassed women, was sentenced to prison Thursday.

David Kaufman, 28, of Peekskill, was sentenced to 30 months in prison, after pleading guilty to stalking multiple victims between October 2019 and August 2020.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Kaufman, who is also known as "David Khalifa," "John Morray" and "Big Man," expressed his hatred of women by terrorizing and harassing them through threats of violence.

"The Court's sentence sends a clear message to the public that perpetrators of violence against women will be held accountable for their crimes," he said.

According to prosecutors, Kaufman self-identifies as an "incel" or "involuntary celibate," which refers to a group of domestic extremists who adhere to a violent and misogynist ideology of male supremacy. incels believe they are entitled to sex with women and to women's bodies, and they blame women for refusing to have sex with them. incels have an active online community, and over the last eight years, they've committed acts of violence against women around the world, including in the U.S.

In 2019 and 2020, prosecutors said Kaufman harassed, threatened and stalked numerous victims. In February 2019, he sent a bomb, rape and death threat to a woman. A few months later, in October 2019, he sent two victims, among others, violent and threatening messages using over 50 social media accounts.

In those messages, Kaufman, identified himself as an incel, expressed his hatred of women and threatened to commit acts of violence.

For example:

• On or about June 24, 2020, Kaufman sent the following message to Victim-1: “Hey wanna hear a joke? What’s worse than 10 Stacy’s nailed to one tree? One Stacy nailed to ten trees [laughing crying face emoji].” “Stacy” is an incel term that refers to an attractive female who rejects or refuses to have sex with an incel, is hated by incels and is targeted by incels for harassment, vitriol, humiliation and violence.
• On or about June 29, 2020, Kaufman sent a series of messages to Victim-2. These messages included an image of one of Elliot Rodger’s victims, a deceased female who had been stabbed to death, accompanied by the following message: “This is what happened when a woman said ‘no’ to Elliot Rodger . . . . Hopefully [Victim-1] never said no to someone just like Elliot Rodger.” [In 2014, a self-proclaimed incel named Elliot Rodger declared a “War on Women” and killed six people and injured fourteen others near a college campus in California.]
• In or about July 2020, Kaufman posted the following messages: “Don’t piss off Big Man” and “When [Victim-1] and I are dead, we’ll be in heaven together forever.”
• On or about July 11, 2020, Kaufman sent the following message to Victim-1: “Women have done nothing but spit in my face. Soon I’ll be getting a gun.”
• On or about July 12, 2020, Kaufman posted the following messages: “A beautiful environment is the darkest hell, if you have to experience it all alone . . . –Elliot Rodger” and “I don’t think [Victim-1] will be laughing too much later on."

Kaufman also created social media accounts using the first and last names of two of the victims and impersonated them online.

During the summer of 2020, law enforcement approached him and told him to stop harassing the two victims. On July 14, 2020, he was arrested on state criminal charges and an order of protection was issued in Westchester County prohibiting him from, among other things, communicating or contacting the two victims.

Notwithstanding the court order of protection, state charges and multiple warnings by law enforcement, Kaufman continued to harass, threaten and stalk the two victims until he was federally charged and arrested in August 2020. He also conducted online surveillance of one of the victim's residences and researched how to illegally purchase a gun and assemble a semi-automatic rifle.

In addition to the prison sentence, Kaufman was sentenced to three years supervised release, with first six months of home detention, the conditions of which include orders of protection prohibiting him from, among other things, contacting certain victims and their family members.