ORLANDO, Fla.,None — Last month, Patrick Macchione pleaded no contest to cyberstalking a University of Central Florida student whom he had met in class.
Prosecutors say he threatened Kristen Pratt by uploading dozens of videos in 2010. On Friday, Pratt victim took the stand at the sentencing hearing while the videos were played in court.
The judge sentenced Macchione to four years in prison, with credit for a little over two years time served. That prison term is a far cry from what the prosecution had requested.
Pratt could not bear to look at the screen as the prosecution played a series of disturbing videos.
Pratt met Macchione during a high school dual enrollment program.
"Probably had maybe one conversation, if any," said Pratt.
One day, Macchione messaged her on Facebook. Pratt said the conversation was polite at first.
"After a few replies, the messages starting getting really weird," said Pratt.
Phone calls followed.
"Thirty or 40 calls from one shift, and a shift was only like five hours," said Pratt.
Then Macchione visited her at work and at school.
"[I was] nervous and frightened that at any moment I could walk out of a building and nobody would ever see me again," Pratt told the courtroom.
In 27 videos posted on YouTube, Macchonie threatens violence if Pratt does not agree to meet him.
Macchione's first trial ended when he acted out and was declared incompetent by a judge. He has since accepted a plea deal, but a defense doctor testified on Friday that he continues to suffer from severe mental illness.
Macchione's lawyers pushed the judge to sentence him to outpatient treatment, but the prosecution argued for the maximum sentence of 15 years. Instead, he will be out of prison in about one year and ten months.
From there, Macchione must complete a community control program, and then serve more than ten years probation.
After requesting a 15 year sentence, the prosecution was visibly upset by the sentence.
WFTV
