A Navy lieutenant commander from Silver Spring has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison after being convicted of cyberstalking his ex-wife and her boyfriend.
U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby sentenced Jason Michael Leidel, 45, to 41 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. A federal jury found Leidel guilty of cyberstalking in December 2025 following a two-week trial.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, prosecutors said Leidel engaged in a sustained campaign of harassment against his ex-wife and her boyfriend.
On multiple occasions, Leidel sent emails containing false allegations in an attempt to get his ex-wife fired from her job as a public school special education teacher. Authorities said he also sent emails attempting to have his ex-wife and their children evicted from their home and repeatedly filed false child protective services complaints against her.
After his ex-wife began dating someone new, prosecutors said Leidel filed false reports claiming the man was abusing children. He also repeatedly emailed the boyfriend’s supervisors with false allegations in an effort to have him investigated and fired.
According to prosecutors, the harassment continued for several years before law enforcement arrested Leidel in connection with the case.
The sentence was announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland along with officials from the FBI Baltimore Field Office, the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General Mid-Atlantic Region, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service Washington Field Office, the Montgomery County Police Department, and the Virginia Beach Police Department.
