Leslie, 27, is accused of using an anonymous Instagram account to send at least 12 women explicit messages and images that “put them in fear of being sexually assaulted or raped”, according to a police report shared by the Edmond Police Department. — Photo by Limon Das: https://www.pexels.com/photo/grey-scale-photo-of-person-holding-smartphone-1100447/
A disturbing online message sent to a police officer helped reveal a wide web of victims and led to an Oklahoma man’s arrest, investigators said.
Jezreil Leslie, 27, is accused of using an anonymous Instagram account to send at least 12 women explicit messages and images that “put them in fear of being sexually assaulted or raped”, according to a police report shared by the Edmond Police Department.
Court records filed July 23 show Leslie is charged with using a computer to violate Oklahoma statutes and eight counts of distribution of obscene material.
Leslie graduated college with a degree in criminal justice before joining the US Air Force, where he specialised in cyber warfare, according to police.
“Instead of using these courses and training in defense of a nation or its citizens, he has used it to better victimise,” the detective wrote in the report.
The investigation began in September 2022, several days after an Edmond police officer received three messages from Leslie’s anonymous account, the report said. It was nighttime and she was watching TV with her husband when the messages arrived, which included images of a man’s genitals and pictures of her – including one from her recent honeymoon – taken from her social media.
McClatchy News is not including full details of the images sent to her and to other victims because they are too obscene.
The messages had a profound impact on the officer, and she began to fear she was being stalked by someone – perhaps someone she had encountered on the job – who may have had plans to assault her, or worse, according to the report. Even at home, she no longer felt safe.
“One night, I found myself clearing my house with my weapon out,” she told the detective who led the investigation.
“I can’t believe I’m being like this. I’m a cop,” she said.
The detective started looking into the anonymous account and requested info from Meta, the company that owns Instagram and Facebook. In less than a month, the company sent the requested info, tracing the account back to a former Edmond resident who had moved to Biloxi, Mississippi, the report said.
The data also revealed that messages had been sent to 12 different women, all with the content along the same lines, the detective wrote. They interviewed several of the victims and soon realised that all 12 had one thing in common.
“Each of these victims knows Jezreil from either the University of Central Oklahoma, working out at a cross-fit facility or from the small town of Fairview,” the report said, adding that Leslie was friends with each of them on his regular, public-facing Instagram account.
The detective went to Biloxi and spoke with Leslie at his apartment there. Initially, he said he was “very confused” about the visit, but when pressed, he admitted to sending the messages, the report said.
“I just wanted to see what their reaction was,” he told the detective in the October 2022 interview.
He was not arrested at the time.
“He was in the military and went through the military system ... and received a non-judicial punishment by getting discharged,” an Edmond police spokesperson told McClatchy News.
However, Leslie recently moved back to Oklahoma and was arrested by Edmond police, the spokesperson said.
He was working at a sports bar in Oklahoma City when he was taken into custody on Thursday, July 25, police told KWTV.
Leslie’s LinkedIn profile says he was a Cyber Warfare Officer in the Air Force from July 2022 to June 2024.
McClatchy News reached out to the Air Force, which declined to comment on the case because Leslie is no longer a member. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service
