Feds: Adam Savader is granted bond in Michigan cyberstalking case

DETROIT -- A 21-year-old Great Neck man has been released after a month in custody on cyberstalking charges filed in Michigan.

Adam Savader is charged with cyberstalking and extortion through the Internet. He's accused of threatening to release nude photos of young women unless they sent some to him. Many are college students who know him.

Savader was arrested in New York last month and held without bond. He was eventually transported to Detroit, and a federal judge allowed his release Friday. A not-guilty plea was entered. Attempts to locate Savader were unsuccessful.

The criminal complaint says Savader called himself John Smith when he sent text messages to women over a Google phone service. Authorities say he got access to nude photos through hacked accounts.

Savader had dropped out of college to work full time on the Gingrich for President campaign and then for the Paul Ryan vice-presidential bid.

The initial complainant said someone had gotten into her computer and found "naked photos of herself" that she had never sent to anyone. A person who identified himself as "John Smith" threatened to send the pictures to her parents and others unless she sent other naked photos of herself, court papers say.

An investigation revealed Savader was "John Smith" and he had apparently used elaborate online schemes or hacked into computers of more than a dozen victims, court papers say.

In some cases, Savader did not ask the victims for new nude pictures, but rather asked for him to be accepted as a "Facebook friend" or just to start texting with him.

With Robert E. Kessler