A Missouri woman who used Roblox and other social media platforms to terrorize a minor victim with threats of rape and murder has pleaded guilty to cyberstalking.
Julianne Grace Willis, 26, of Independence, Missouri, used a Roblox account in October 2022 to pretend to be a 24-year-old man named Chris and sent demeaning messages to a minor in Ulysses, Kansas. The abuse was discovered when one of the minor’s relatives noticed the victim was receiving instant messages from an adult man on the app.
The victim blocked Willis on Roblox, but the harassment didn’t stop there.
Willis began contacting the minor through phone calls, text messages and other social media platforms, threatening to rape the victim and kill them and their family. She also created a fake dating profile that invited men to the minor’s home with the expectation of a romantic encounter.
Willis also contacted the victim’s family and place of employment. She accused the family of infidelity and made derogatory statements to the minor’s employer, causing the victim to change jobs.
“The victim in this case endured a sustained and deliberate campaign of harassment by the defendant, whose repeated actions caused significant disruption to the victim’s daily life and well-being of their family,” FBI Kansas City Special Agent in Charge Chris Ormerod said. “This conduct had a profound and lasting impact on the victim’s sense of security and quality of life.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation traced the phone number and IP address used to harass the minor to Willis.
Roblox, the online gaming platform Willis initially used to contact the victim, is currently facing more than 170 lawsuits, many involving child safety issues. Before April, Roblox did not have any age requirements or restrictions.
West Virginia state Delegate David Elliott Pritt resigned from his House seat and voluntarily withdrew his re-election campaign Tuesday after being accused of sexually coercing a 15-year-old girl using Roblox and Snapchat.
Pritt, a high school teacher, allegedly reached out to the girl on Roblox early last year. The conversation moved to Snapchat, where Pritt allegedly persuaded the victim to send him sexually explicit images. The relationship became physical when Pritt allegedly told the girl to come to his classroom beginning in late 2025.
Pritt has been arrested and was disavowed by the West Virginia Republican Executive Committee.
Willis pleaded guilty to one count of cyberstalking and is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 4. She faces up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.
(Photo credit: Unsplash, Oberon Copeland @veryinformed.com)
