Canadian Man Indicted on Federal Stalking Charges in Dallas: Accused of Wearing a Rubber Mask to a Former Coworker's Door
A Canadian resident accused of stalking a former coworker for years, following her from Canada to Dallas, Texas, has been indicted by a federal grand jury. Ryan Raybould, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, announced that Nikolay Sapov, also known as Nikolay Georgiyevitch Sapov, faces two felony stalking counts.
The two-count indictment charges Sapov with stalking through interstate travel and stalking through electronic communications. He was previously arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on an Amtrak train entering the United States.
According to court filings, Sapov first met the victim several years ago while both were seasonal player services employees at the Miami Open tennis tournament. Over several years, Sapov allegedly developed an obsession with the victim, repeatedly contacting her outside work hours, tracking down personal and family social media profiles, and sending unwanted gifts and correspondence to her residences.
Court documents allege Sapov traveled to Orlando and Plantation, Florida, to stalk her in 2023 and 2025. The conduct escalated in June 2026, when Sapov traveled from Toronto, Canada, to Dallas, where the victim was living. After renting a vehicle at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, he allegedly located her gated residential complex. On June 22, 2026, the victim saw Sapov loitering near her apartment building, and local law enforcement and property security issued him a criminal trespass warning.
Two days later, on June 24, 2026, a neighbor's video doorbell captured an individual matching Sapov's build, clothing and footwear approaching the victim's front door wearing a full rubber mask to conceal his face. When confronted through the doorbell intercom, the masked suspect fled. Fearing for their safety, the victim and her partner temporarily relocated to emergency hotel lodging and purchased security measures.
Despite the Dallas incident and subsequent police reports, Sapov allegedly continued sending unwanted electronic messages through August 2026, including an artificial intelligence-generated image depicting the victim posing alongside him.
On August 22, CBP officers arrested Sapov under a Texas stalking warrant as he traveled on an Amtrak train from Canada into the United States. Officers recovered electronic equipment and two cell phones containing maps and street names around the victim's neighborhood, photographs of women's shoes displayed in an apparent sexual manner, screenshots of key-copying and locksmith companies, and explicit AI-generated photographs and videos of the victim.
"No individual has the right to terrorize another human being or shatter their sense of safety inside their own home," U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said, adding that the indictment makes clear that predatory behavior across borders will be met with swift, uncompromising federal justice.
R. Joseph Rothrock, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Dallas Field Office, said stalking and targeted harassment can profoundly disrupt victims' lives and leave them feeling vulnerable, and that the FBI remains committed to identifying and holding accountable those who use threats and intimidation to instill fear.
If convicted, Sapov faces a statutory maximum of five years in federal prison on each count, followed by supervised release and potential financial penalties. The FBI Dallas Field Office's Violent Crimes Task Force investigated the case, with substantial assistance from CBP, the Dallas Police Department and the Tyler Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nadin-Sarah Salkić is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and Sapov is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. (Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas)
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国司法部罗伯特·肯尼迪大楼。APK 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building. By APK, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
