Aaron T. Moul won’t be sending threatening and obscene messages to female attorneys in Arizona or anywhere else anytime soon.
That’s because Moul, aka The Panty Man, was sentenced last week by a federal judge to four years in prison after he admitted using Facebook to “annoy, abuse, threaten, and harass” women. He also conceded his actions would be expected to cause “substantial emotional distress” to his victims and that one of his targets had a “reasonable fear of death and serious bodily injury.”
Court records show Moul, 21, used multiple Facebook profiles in early 2020 to message several female attorneys across the country, many of whom were campaigning at the time for public office. He often asked the women to send him a pair of their underwear and would escalate his harassment if they ignored him.
Two of the women Moul harassed, Kristina Guerrero-Sisneroz and Sandy Russell, are attorneys based in Cochise County who were campaigning for public office; Russell to be a superior court judge and Guerreo-Sisneroz for justice of the peace. There is no record the two women had any prior contact with Moul, who lived in Rhode Island.
Guerrero-Sisneroz is a prosecutor for the Cochise County Attorney’s Office. She confirmed in April 2020 to first receiving threats from Moul on her campaign’s Facebook page.
“I had blocked him and then he kept creating more accounts and then started commenting on my photos on my personal page about not complying” with his demands, she said at the time. “I am not alone, several other women including a DA in Wisconsin and some other candidates.”
Like Guerrero-Sisneroz, Langlade County (Wisc.) District Attorney Elizabeth Gebert was a government prosecutor in April 2020 and running for public office. Moul sent Gebert numerous harassing and threatening messages, and sent her a sexually graphic video via Facebook in which Moul was wearing ladies underwear.
Moul even called Gebert’s office and identified himself as “The Panty Man.” He told Gebert she would die if she did not send him her underwear. Moul took no effort to block his phone number so Langlade County investigators quickly traced him to Rhode Island where he was arrested.
The U. S. Attorney for the District of Wisconsin pursued federal charges against Moul, who was transferred by the U.S. Marshal Service from Rhode Island to Wisconsin in August. He pleaded guilty in October and was sentenced on Jan. 22 with credit toward his four-year prison term for nine months in custody after his arrest.
Once released from prison Moul must serve three years of supervised release. In a presentencing memo, his federal public defender noted Moul was diagnosed with a variety of mental health disorders and had difficulty in the past finding and sustaining treatment.
“After this case, though, Moul will have the benefit of federal supervision that is better funded with fewer people to supervise,” the attorney noted. “That may lead to a better result in Moul’s finding and maintaining a treatment regimen on the outside.”
When asked about the outcome of Moul’s case, Guerrero-Sisneroz told Arizona Daily Independent she was pleased with the prison term and subsequent supervised released during which Moul can receive treatment.
“I am glad to see that there will be punishment because this isn’t his first time in trouble and he harassed many women,” she said “The scary part of being harassed on the internet is not knowing who your predator is- so you fear it could be anyone. On the other hand, I’m glad he is going to get help because his last prison stay obviously didn’t correct his thinking.”