Man convicted in landmark online harassment case charged with breach of probation

A Burnaby B.C., man convicted of criminally harassing his ex-wife with a vulgar website and threatening emails has beencharged withbreach of probation.

The B.C. Prosecution Service said the breach occurred on March 19 when Patrick Fox failed to report to his probation officer.

RCMP did not confirm whetherFox was arrested.

In 2017, Fox was sentenced to four years in prisonfor an online harassment campaign tormenting his ex-wife.

Fox created a site using his ex's name and labelled her a white supremacist, drug addict and child abuser. The site contained intimate photos. He also used Google ads to direct internet traffic to the site from workplaces and neighbourhoods near his ex's home in the U.S.

In sentencing him to four years in prison in November 2017, a B.C. judge described his harassment as "boundless."

With time served taken into account, Fox was to spend nearly two years in prison, followed by three years of probation uponhis release.

Fox'swas a landmark case in howcriminal harassment charges are applied in Canada.

His wasone of thefirst Canadian attempts to use the charge of criminal harassment to counter online attacks.