Maine man indicted in interstate stalking of Greenland boy

Michael Chick (Police mugshot)

CONCORD - A Maine man has been indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of cyberstalking, United States Attorney Jane E. Young announced today.
Michael Chick, 39, of Eliot, was arrested on a criminal complaint on Aug 5 following the execution of a search warrant at his residence.
Chick is accused of stalking and threatening a Greenland child who was on his bus route. The indictment alleges that Chick provided cell phones to the child and used the cell phones to communicate with the child after being warned to cease all contact. Chick is also alleged to have placed GPS tracking devices on the parents' vehicles and to have walked around the outside of the child's home at night on numerous occasions.
The investigation began with Chick, a bus driver, offering small gifts to an 8-year-old Greenland boy and escalated to threats against him and his family if he refused to take "naughty" pictures of himself in a school bathroom, according to disturbing court documents filed in his arrest.
Chick, who was employed as a school bus driver for Greenland Central School, is alleged to have threatened the boy with shadowy groups and punishments if he didn't comply.
His parents became worried and notified school officials when Chick asked them if he could attend one of the boy's baseball games.
The arresting document on file noted that Chick also left letters at the boy's home whenever he or his sister were absent from school to tell them how much he missed them.
On May 6, Greenland police caught up with Chick for the first time, and asked him whey he thought they wanted to speak with him.
Chick replied, "Probably had to do with the boy." Chick was then told to have no more contact with the boy or family.
Police later learned that Chick had convinced the eight-year-old to accept two phones with which he was urged to send "naughty" pictures or risk consequences to himself and his family.
They also learned he had secretly installed tracking devices on both family cars, later recovered by police, and that he was insinuating to the boy that some shadowy group of up to 800 members posed a threat if he didn't comply with their demands.
"We're still in this situation, right?" Chick can be heard asking him on May 13, according to the complaint. "Have you been worried about it?"
"Yeah," the boy replies.
"I'm doing everything I can to stop them from doing very bad things," he added at another point, according to the affidavit.
The boy related much of the sordid details to police leading to Chick's arrest.
A search warrant executed in August at Chick's home found a large baggie of children's underwear, and a note addressed to the boy.
"Good job, you were great last night. Thank you. You saved yourself. Would have taken you away on Friday," it read.
The charge in the indictment is an allegation. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.