VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – A Navy officer and his girlfriend each face federal charges of cyberstalking, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy for an alleged campaign to harass his ex-wife.

Jason Michael Leidel, 42, an active-duty commissioned officer and Sarah Elizabeth Song, 43, a senior trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Transportation, were scheduled to appear Monday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

A criminal complaint in the case had been filed Oct. 17, and was unsealed Monday upon their arrest.

The filed affidavit alleges that since the couple separated in August 2018, Leidel has engaged in what is being described as “an ongoing and extensive scheme to harass his ex-wife, interfere with court proceedings relating to domestic relations issues and perpetuate fraud on courts in both Montgomery County, Md. and Virginia Beach, Va.”

Leidel allegedly used spoofed and fraudulent email accounts and phone numbers to falsely create communications designed to be from his ex-wife, resulting in criminal charges filed against her, disrupt her employment and interfere with her personal life. He also tried, according to the affidavit, to portray his ex-wife as a mentally unstable patient so he could get custody of their children and deny his ex-wife of his retirement accounts and pension in their divorce agreement.

Song allegedly shared her home with Leidel and was there when a search warrant was executed at their residence. She was also aware of information that linked multiple fraudulent accounts he used to harass and victimize his ex-wife as early as August 2020, and aided in continuing to harass his ex-wife, according to the affidavit.

According to the affidavit, Leidel, who had served in the military since 2003 – first in the Air Force and then the Navy – married his wife in 2005 and had two children. In 2017, while on active duty in the Navy, Leidel was accepted into a Ph.D. program at the Uniformed Services University for the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. and reported for assignment there in June 2018.

Two months later, Leidel and his wife permanently separated, and she and their two children returned to Virginia Beach, where they had lived prior to his assignment in Bethesda.

If convicted, they could each face up to five years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and for cyberstalking, a mandatory sentence of two years in prison – consecutive to any other imposed sentence – for aggravated identity theft and one year in federal prison for fraud related to a protected computer.

The charges were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Alison F. Zavada of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service; Special Agent in Charge Craig Miles of the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General; Chief Marcus Jones of the Montgomery County Police Department and Chief Paul W. Neudigate of the Virginia Beach, Virginia Police Department.