A 25-year-old man pleaded guilty Wednesday to making a hoax bomb threat against the Walt Disney Company two years ago and admitted to harassing and stalking an attorney with the Burbank media and entertainment conglomerate.
Seth Daniel Stewart of Northern California entered a plea in L.A. federal court to one count of conveying false information concerning the use of an explosive device, which carries a possible prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Stewart — who also calls himself “Angel Cross” — further acknowledged cyberstalking a Disney lawyer, placing the attorney in fear of death, according to Stewart’s plea agreement.
A sentencing date of Aug. 5 was scheduled.
Stewart’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case stems from Stewart’s attempts starting in September 2022 to acquire the rights to the popular comedy-action series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” which aired on television from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, documents show.
It was not clear why Stewart wanted the rights to the series about the adventures of Buffy Summers, a teenage girl gifted with the strength and skill to hunt vampires. Reruns of the show’s seven seasons currently air on Disney’s Hulu subscription streaming service.
After Disney representatives declined Stewart’s overtures and the lawyer sent him a cease-and-desist letter, he began sending threatening and harassing emails and voicemails directed against the attorney and other Disney employees, the plea agreement says.
Among other things, on March 3, 2023, Stewart posted 22 pages of personal identifying information for the lawyer and other employees to a dark web “doxing” website. The identifying information included names, job titles and home addresses, personal and work cell phone numbers, and email addresses, prosecutors said.
The same day, Stewart left voicemails with the victim, threatening to show up at Disney’s offices, federal prosecutors wrote in the plea agreement.
In May 2024, the defendant left a voicemail with Disney stating he was going to “kill” the lawyer and “all the woke executives” at the entertainment company, according to court papers.
About two weeks later, the plea documents states, Stewart called the company’s guest services number, and, purporting to be a Disney employee, falsely stated that he had received information that someone was planning to bomb the company’s offices.
In addition to voicemails and emails, from December 2023 through June 2024, the defendant sent or attempted to send “dozens of pizza deliveries to the victim and other company employees at their work and home addresses,” prosecutors said.
In June 2024, a temporary restraining order was issued against Stewart by the Los Angeles Superior Court which ordered the defendant, among other things, not to harass, threaten or contact the victim attorney in any way.