Raleigh city councilman among the victims a Durham man is accused of cyberstalking
Jonathan Lambert-Melton, an at-large member of the Raleigh City Council, is one of five people a Durham man was accused of harassing and cyberstalking for years.
David Winters, 38, was indicted by a grand jury last week on five counts of cyberstalking and harassing people of the LGBTQ+ community that began around October 2016. Winters faces 25 years in prison if convicted on all five counts.
The victims are only identified in the indictment by their initials but Lambert-Melton, who is gay, told The News & Observer how he received threats in the five years since first being elected to the city council.
Lambert-Melton, elected in 2019, is one of the two LGBTQ+ members on the Raleigh City Council alongside fellow council member Stormie Forte, who also serves at-large and was elected in 2022.
The councilman told The News & Observer he was relieved Winters was charged.
“It’s unfortunate that it had to occur to so many folks over such a long period of time for it to rise to this level of accountability,” he said. “I’m happy that he was charged.”
What does the indictment say?
According to the indictment, Winters began harassing and intimidating Lambert-Melton around August 2019 until July of this year.
The document states that Winters used electronics, computers, and the Internet to send “harassing and intimidating electronic and text messages” to Lambert-Melton and other people associated with him.
He also monitored the councilman “on the internet and social media” which caused “emotional distress” to Lambert-Melton.
Lambert-Melton said Winters sent him death threats and knew the council member’s home address.
The man also threatened Lambert-Melton’s husband, Stephan.
“Back when my husband and I were dating, and my husband was living in New York, he had sent him a message with my home address, which was obviously concerning,” Lambert-Melton said.
In a threat to Lambert-Melton’s friend in 2021, Winters sent them a message suggesting that the councilman should die.
“This person’s father had just passed,” he said. “That’s when I was like, this has gone too far and I contacted the Raleigh Police Department and that was the first time he was charged.”
Lambert-Melton said he and his husband kept a baseball bat by the bed out of fear Winters would come by their home.
Other allegations of stalking and ‘fear of death’
The document also states that Winters stalked one person for eight years causing the man to have “reasonable fear of death and serious bodily injury.”
He stalked another victim from October 2016 to December 2019, including coming to the house and sending intimidating messages. Winters also sent harassing voicemails to another person.
Winters was serving a yearlong probation at the time of his arrest after pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of cyberstalking last December.
A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 10 and Lambert-Melton said he would be there to give his victim impact statement.
“It’s a very difficult thing to go through,” Lambert-Melton said. “If anyone is experiencing any sort of harassment or threats or hate, it is important to speak up. It’s not right.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2024 at 2:02 PM with the headline "Raleigh city councilman among the victims a Durham man is accused of cyberstalking."