A federal judge in Charlotte sentenced a South Carolina man and woman on Thursday for a relentless cyberstalking campaign that targeted a young man with intellectual disabilities, ultimately resulting in his death.
Trysten Anthony Cullon, 27, was sentenced to 41 months in prison, while co-defendant Jade Ashlynn Stone, 27, received 27 months. Following their release, both must serve three years on supervised probation and pay $26,699.65 in restitution. The two had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cyberstalk.
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The case concerned the treatment of 27-year-old Christopher Tsoulos, a Charlotte fast-food worker with a developmental disability. Prosecutors say the conspiracy began on September 5, 2024, when Cullon met Tsoulos at work and acquired access to his unlocked phone.
Cullon and Stone used the device to breach security on Tsoulos’ bank accounts and payment apps for several days, but their attempts to steal funds were mostly unsuccessful.
When the digital theft failed, the pair resorted to extortion. They sent “harassing and intimidating” text messages to Tsoulos’ family members, demanding money. Cullon and Stone threatened to destroy the young man’s reputation by informing his employer that he was a “pervert” who paid for sexual photographs, which investigators discovered were fake.
The psychological pressure was fatal. Tsoulos committed himself, fearful of losing his job and facing legal consequences as a result of the couple’s falsehoods.
“This case is heartbreaking,” said United States Attorney Russ Ferguson. “To feed their heroin addiction, Cullon and Stone turned to preying on the weakest among us. Christopher, who had a developmental impairment, offered his phone to a stranger out of charity, only for that stranger to exploit it to take his money.
Reid, the FBI’s Special Agent in Charge, Davis, emphasized the premeditated nature of the crime, claiming that the couple “intentionally tormented” a guy who relied on his family for daily support. During the sentencing, United States District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr. described the defendants’ behavior as a “particularly egregious version of this crime.”
The FBI and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department collaborated on this investigation. Cullon and Stone are still in federal detention, awaiting transfer to a Bureau of Prisons facility.
