Host of interracial dating podcast gets federal prison time for stalking Black Floridians
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A California man was sentenced to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to six counts of stalking and cyberstalking five different victims, all of whom are Black and live in Florida, according to court documents.
Since Aug. 22, Christopher Au-Young, 36, made threats and harassed the victims online through videos posted on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, and Reddit, often using racial slurs or other racially offensive language.
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According to court documents, the 36-year-old stalked a woman from Oct. 2022 until his arrest in Jan. 2023. Au-Young met the woman on his podcast, which is dedicated to interracial dating. Once the woman expressed her disinterest in him, he began making racial threats, telling her, “I hope I ruin your life.”
He then proceeded to post multiple YouTube videos, sharing the woman’s personal information, including her home address and real name —things the woman had never told Au-Young. He also drove three hours to her home in the middle of the night and parked outside the residence.
The woman felt so unsafe that she had to move.
She also correctly believed Au-Young was targeting Black women through his actions, podcast and racist statements he had made online regarding Dylann Roof, the white supremist who opened fire at a Bible study at a Charleston, South Carolina, church, killing nine Black parishioners.
The second victim, another woman, met Au-Young through a Facebook group about veterans. The two began dating, but when the woman decided to end the relationship, Au-Young began stalking, threatening and harassing the woman and her daughter, son, and her brother.
Au-Young published several videos on the internet containing racist remarks warning the community to stay away from the woman and her family. According to the woman, the 36-year-old “warned her that he would never stop coming for her” and told her to lock her doors at night and “sleep with one-eye open.” He also posted a bounty video offering $4,000 for information on the woman’s whereabouts.
He then continued to harass the woman’s adult daughter, posting dozens of videos online threating to come after her. One video, which had the woman’s name and picture over text that read “PED-O-FILE.”
According to documents, he accused the woman of being homophobic and called on her work to fire her in another video. Then, on Dec. 11, 2022, he drove to Illinois from California to stalk her in person for three days. During this time, he posted videos online saying he was going to vandalize the woman’s car.
A concerned YouTube viewer contacted authorities, who then located Au-Young in the backseat of his vehicle near the entrance of the woman’s work.
He also posted racist, threatening and defaming videos online about his ex-girlfriend’s son. He also mailed him four letters calling the boy and his family racial slurs and threatening to come after them.
Lastly, Au-Young posted videos falsely accusing his ex-girlfriend’s brother of being a pedophile, claiming he’s a dangerous person who “molested several children.” The videos also implicated the man’s wife.
Au-Young mailed letters to the mans home and church, where he worked as a minister, according to court documents. Although all of the allegations were false, Au-Young continued to tell the community the man was a pedophile.
The 36-year-old was arrested in Jan. 2023 and plead guilty on July 28. The Federal Bureau Investigation, along with the Tampa Police Department, Anaheim Police Department, and the Carbondale Police Department investigated this case.
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