The key facts
- Canadian citizen Nikolai Sapov has been charged with two counts of federal stalking, each carrying up to five years in prison
- The investigation claims the stalking lasted several years and spanned Florida and Texas
- Upon his arrest at the border, Sapov was found with maps of the victim's neighborhood and AI-generated explicit images of the woman
The charges and the investigation's version
Canadian citizen Nikolai Sapov has been charged with two counts of federal stalking, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas. Each count — stalking involving interstate travel and the use of electronic communications — carries up to five years in prison, meaning the man faces up to ten years in total. A court must determine his guilt.
How the stalking developed
According to the investigation's account as reported by Life.ru, Sapov met the victim while working at the Miami Open tennis tournament. Over several years, he persistently messaged her, tracked down her relatives' social media pages, and sent unwanted gifts. In 2023 and 2025, he traveled to Florida, where the woman lived.
The Dallas incident and the arrest
In the summer of 2026, the stalking continued in Texas: Sapov flew from Toronto to Dallas, rented a car, and located the apartment complex where the woman lived. On June 22, she spotted him near the building, after which police banned him from the complex's grounds. Two days later, a doorbell camera captured a person resembling Sapov outside the victim's apartment: his face was covered by a thick rubber mask, and the stranger fled when a neighbor addressed him through the intercom. After that, the woman and her partner temporarily moved to a hotel.
What was found on the detainee
On August 22, Sapov was detained while crossing the US border on a train from Canada. On his devices, investigators found maps of the victim's neighborhood, information about key-making companies, and explicit images of the woman generated with artificial intelligence. The charges have not yet been proven in court.
