Former GOP Strategist Who Created Fake Grindr Account in Victim's Name Is Convicted of Stalking
A jury convicted a former Republican political strategist on two counts of stalking Friday after prosecutors alleged that Daniel Duffey sent harassing text messages and letters to the victim and his family, the Montana Free Press reported. According to witnesses, Duffey also created a fake Grindr account under the victim's name and asked app users to attend the victim's wedding to have sex with him.
Duffey was political director for Greg Gianforte's 2020 gubernatorial campaign until he was fired because he allegedly repeatedly hit a parked car with his car door, causing $1600 in damages. He worked on other Republican campaigns as well as for the GOP-led Montana Legislature in the 2019, 2021, and 2023 sessions.
Duffey met the victim at a University of Montana football game in 2023 where the two men talked about rugby. After the game, they began a friendly texting exchange. But when the victim didn't reply to Duffey's invitation to grab a beer, Duffey appeared to get angry.
'I'm not sure what happened man. I thought we clicked,' Duffey said in a text sent in Nov. 2023. 'I thought it would be cool to be friends.'
Duffey later texted the victim, 'Seriously man, that sucks. I don't know how you go from [being] all over me and sexually assaulting me to pretending like I don't even exist. If you're embarrassed about what happened you shouldn't be.'
The victim responded, 'Been struggling. Not trying to offend you. Also, I do not know what your [sic] talking about with being all over you.'
On the witness stand last week, the victim said Duffey's version of events was 'fictitious.' Law enforcement and other witnesses denied knowing about any prior sexual assault allegations against the victim.
In another text to the victim, Duffey wrote, '[H]onestly the more you treat me like shit and make me think that this is all in my head and I'm going crazy, the crazier I am going to act. You've made very clear you don't give a f— about me and what happens to me, and now I'm going to return the favor. My only hope is that I put you in as much pain and ruin your life the way you've ruined mine.'
Things continued to escalate from there. According to prosecutors, Duffey sent a letter to the victim's mother-in-law where he wrote about working as a Republican political operative, serving in the military in Afghanistan, and volunteering in Ukraine in 2022. Enclosed in the letter were photos of Duffey with well-known Republican leaders, including Vice President Mike Pence, Rudy Giuliani, and Sens. Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell.
In Feb. 2024, around the time of the victim's wedding, Duffey drove near the wedding location to post flyers showing the victim's name and photo and accusing him of sexual assault. According to witness testimony, as reported by the Montana Free Press, Duffey made a fake account on Grindr, an LGBTQ dating app, using the victim's name. He then requested app users attend the victim's wedding to have sex with the victim.
Duffey even texted the couple a threatening message on their wedding day: '[I]t should be pretty obvious by now, that this isn't going to end tonight when you get married, this goes on for years until I see [the victim] behind bars or paying me so much money you'll never be able to do anything nice again.'
Prior to the wedding, on Jan. 21, 2024, the victim reported Duffey's unhinged behavior to local police. Duffey was later arrested near one of the wedding events, and according to prosecutors, law enforcement found a semiautomatic handgun in his car along with poster board and similar flyers. Duffey pleaded not guilty last year and did not testify in his defense. The jury took less than an hour to reach a unanimous guilty verdict after the four-day trial.
'The evidence in this case convinces the court that, with very little if any provocation, he engaged on a monthslong campaign of assailing the character, the safety of a person he knew for a very short time before engaging in this campaign,' District Court Judge Dan Wilson said in court on Friday. 'There's no rhyme or reason for the conduct. It's so far outside of the realm of sociable or acceptable behavior that it is the court's genuine concern that, now that the conviction has occurred, Mr. Duffey has a tremendous incentive and, in light of the evidence submitted in this case, very little imposition of self-restraint to prevent him from engaging in similar conduct in the immediate future.'
Because of Duffey's apparent lack of self-restraint, the judge said the former Republican strategist will be incarcerated ahead of his sentencing scheduled for July 10.
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