Michal Pacek, accused of stalking Long Island nurse, waives extradition from New Jersey to face charges next week

The New Jersey man accused of bombarding a Suffolk County nurse with sexually graphic messages, violent threats and unwanted gifts during a three-year campaign of stalking and harassment will be returned to Long Island next week to face charges, officials said.

Michal Pacek, 47, of Bayonne, appeared in Jersey City Municipal Court on Friday and waived extradition to face six outstanding warrants in Suffolk County on misdemeanor charges of bail jumping and criminal contempt, according to Emily O'Neill, a spokeswoman for the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. 

Pacek will remain in custody in New Jersey until Tuesday, at which point he will be brought back to the island, O'Neill said.

It was not immediately clear if Pacek, who was arrested by the New Jersey State Police Department's Fugitive Task Force on Wednesday, will face upgraded charges related to his unwelcome communication with Melanie Smith of Suffolk, a registered nurse he has never met.

"We appreciate the cooperation of New Jersey authorities in extraditing Pacek and look forward to continuing the prosecutions of these alleged crimes here in Suffolk County," O'Neill said.

Efforts to reach Pacek were not successful while it was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.

But the attorney representing Smith said they are relieved by the news.

"We’re glad he waved next extradition and look forward to seeing the process play out," said Adam Uris, Smith’s attorney. "Melanie will not rest until he’s held accountable for the terror. He subjected her too over these last three years."

Newsday first reported this month about Pacek's prolonged harassment campaign of Smith which began in May 2023 after she attempted to sell an old iPhone on Facebook Marketplace and received what she described as a bizarre message from a man she'd never met filled with graphic sexual remarks.

Smith blocked the number but got more messages from different accounts of a similar nature. Each time, she blocked the individual but others popped up, Smith said.

In the months that followed, she received a bevy of calls, text messages, social media posts and emails to her business website that ran the gamut from sexual to explicitly violent to indecipherable and difficult to understand conspiratorial rants about politicians and child sexual abuse rings.

Pacek later showed up at Smith's parents' Suffolk County house, taunting her family, while sending dozens of unsolicited gifts, including an $800 bouquet of roses, more than $500 in cash, 40 pieces of lingerie and sexual paraphernalia.

Smith filed dozens of police reports, secured a pair of orders of protection — a third was rejected because of a "lack of a relationship" between the two — and Pacek was twice arrested on charges of stalking, aggravated harassment and violating orders of protection, records show.

The charges, all misdemeanors, led to a combined 3 months in jail before Pacek, who to date has never physically harmed Smith, was sent to a psychiatric facility after a court-ordered evaluation determined he wasn't mentally fit to stand trial, records show.

Pacek was released from the facility in less than a day, triggering the criminal case and order of protection to be automatically dismissed, said Adam Uris, Smith's attorney.

Last year, Pacek was arrested again in Suffolk and charged with second-degree aggravated harassment and third- and fourth-degree stalking, all misdemeanors, records show.

On the eve of trial, Pacek's attorney again requested a psychological fitness exam but he failed to show up and a warrant for his arrest was issued for bail jumping and criminal contempt, records indicate.

But until this week — and only after Newsday's coverage of Smith's case — police had failed to arrest Pacek. A new order of protection was served on Pacek on May 7, Uris said.

Pacek has a lengthy criminal history, including a prior arrest in South Carolina for arson, which was later dismissed, and a conviction for pointing a gun at another person.

In New Jersey, records show, the construction worker was arrested in 2019 and 2020 for stalking and harassment, charges that were later dismissed, records show. In 2016 he was found not guilty of making false statements to police while in 2013 a criminal mischief case was dismissed when the victim declined to proceed, records show.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.