| Brooklyn
Literary Agent Charged With Stalking Is US
Guest Overnight, Says Nuance Is Missing
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTROOM
EXCLUSIVE, Jan 10 – A
Brooklyn-based literary agent
was arrested on January 11 for
cyber-stalking.
At 7 pm that
night she was told she would
be a "guest of the government"
overnight, until she can be
fitted with a location
monitoring GPS bracelet.
She slammed the
table and was led into the
holding cell by two U.S.
Marshals.
This took
place after a two hour long
proceeding in the U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Magistrates Court, with this
Inner City Press reporter the
only person in the courtroom
gallery.
Magistrate Judge Barbara C.
Moses twice summoned Pre-Trial
Services out of the courtroom
to discuss the case off the
record. Pre-Trial Services was
recommending that the literary
agent, Weronika Janczuk, be
held in detention pending
trial.
The Assistant US
Attorney described Janczuk as
cyber-stalking a victim he
left unnamed, and the victim's
family members and place of
work, which he described as an
investment firm / law
firm.
The US
Attorney's Office was
agreeable to release on
$50,000 bond, but wanted home
confinement as well as the GPS
monitoring, and monitoring of
Janczuk's Internet usage and
accounts.
It emerged
that Pre-Trial Services will
not monitor accounts but only
devices, and only desktop and
laptop computers at that.
Judge Moses ordered that
Janczuk winnow her four e-mail
accounts down to one, then
revised that to two accounts:
one personal and one
professional.
Janczuk was
found elibigle for a
publicly-funded Federal
Defender. She listed her
income as zero, but said she
draws $6000 a month from an
inheritance.
The Federal Defender
proposed that the $50,000 bond
be secured by $5000 in cash.
Judge Moses asked
about co-signers for the bond:
relatives? The Federal
Defender replied that there
are two siblings but one is
not in contact and the other
is overseas.
It was
said that Janczuk has two
passports. One from Poland,
which is a mandatory consular
notification state, and the
other from Canada, to which
notice of the Federal arrest
of their citizens is optional.
(Inner City Press is also
covering the SDNY criminal
case against Canadian citizen
Peter Nygard.)
Janczuk is
depicted taking part in a
United Nations event in 2016.
The AUSA
described Janczuk as having
driving to New York from
Minnesota at 107 miles an
hour, then going to Washington
DC when the victims brother,
in from the UK, was there.
Janczuk, speaking for herself,
said that there was more
nuance to the narrative.
When
it came time for Judge Moses'
decision, jail or bail,
release on bond was agreed to,
but with the GPS bracelet. It
was too late to have it
installed so Judge Moses told
Ms. Janczuk, Tonight you will
be the guest of the government
until the bracelet can be
installed tomorrow
The Federal Defender pushed
back, citing COVID in the
jails.
Judge Moses
asked, Is she vaccinated?
(Earlier she had instructed
Janczuk to raise up her mask
over her nose.)
Yes, the
answer came. But there might
be a problem getting her
returned to the courthouse the
next morning. The Marshals
said, if the prosecutors email
them, it will be done. They
began to lead Janczuk
away.
There was a
loud bang as Janczuk hit the
defense table. The Marshals
restrained and ushered her
out. They asked the Federal
Defender to come as well, but
to be sure to leave her phone
in the courtroom. The deputy
went back to inform Judge
Moses of what
happened.
Only two
days prior, Janczuk had been
tweeting photos of a Polish
restaurant in Brooklyn. Other
of her accounts have been
removed (for example,
"weronikajanczuk.wordpress.com
is no longer available. The
authors have deleted this
site") but still online is an
article, "Cyber-stalking does
not get you agents and
editors." The allegation did,
however, give rise to this
arrest and detention.
The case is
US v. Janczuk, 21-mj-10885
(Moses).
***
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