A Mount Saint Thomas man has confessed to intimidating his estranged girlfriend after bombarding her with text messages then sending lingerie pictures advertising her OnlyFans account to members of her family.
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Riley Cropper, 25, was initially charged with distributing an intimate image without consent however police withdrew the charge in exchange for Cropper agreeing to plead guilty to two counts of intimidation.
Documents tendered to Wollongong Local Court said Cropper and the woman had been in a relationship for six months when they got into an argument on New Year's Eve in 2020.
The woman decided to leave Cropper's house just before 3am on New Year's Day and booked a taxi.
Cropper became verbally aggressive towards the woman, telling her to wait outside for the ride.
The woman said she didn't want to wait out on the street by herself, however, Cropper said he didn't care and removed her from the home.
The woman contacted triple zero from the front lawn, but walked across the road and hid behind a tree when Cropper came outside again, causing her to miss the taxi that had arrived to pick her up.
Police arrived a short time later and agreed to drop the woman at Wollongong Railway Station so she could get home.
Cropper then contacted the woman via Facebook Messenger, telling her "thanks for calling the cops with your freak out".
He messaged her a further 18 times, even after she wrote to him asking to be left alone.
The following day, Cropper messaged the woman via her work Instagram page, asking to talk.
He sent 49 messages, one of which read "I know where you live, I'll sit out there until you talk to me".
When the woman still didn't respond to him, Cropper sent her mother and sister-in-law a screenshot from her work page, which shows she is an online sex worker.
The victim later told police the incident had left her distraught as her family was not aware she was a sex worker.
During a sentence hearing in court, defence lawyer Alyce Fisher confirmed Cropper had taken the photos from a public Twitter account that was being used to advertise the victim's OnlyFans page.
She said the relationship between Cropper and the woman had been "chaotic" and marred by drug use.
She said Cropper was working as a labourer and no longer took drugs.
Magistrate Greg Elks convicted Cropper on both charges and fined him a total of $1600.
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