UCF professor accused of stalking student with 800 texts a day

A University of Central Florida professor was arrested Thursday after police say he stalked a student for months by following her around campus and sending her 800 messages a day.

Ali Borji, 39, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of stalking. Borji, who was an assistant professor at UCF's Department of Computer Science, was arrested in his campus office Thursday by UCF Police.

The student told police she met Borji last June while she was studying for her Ph.D, according to an arrest affidavit. He reached out to her Facebook to offer her help with her studies. They went on a couple of dates after meeting, but the student decided she wanted to keep their relationship professional. But police say Borji began to stalk her. The victim told him she was not interested in him and to stop contacting her, the report said.

"Please listen to me," Borji wrote back to her, according to the report. "We are just one step away from eternal happiness! Lets just try one more time please."

Police say Borji continued to inundate the victim with Facebook messages, emails, phone calls. At one point, he even contacted her immediate family members to disclose his love for her to them and bought her gifts that she refused. Borji began showing up at the gym and other places the student frequented, according to the report.

After several months of stalking, the student left UCF and the state to get away from Borji and the stress the situation was causing her. Borji left her alone for that time, but police say he began stalking and harassing the victim again when she came back to UCF for the 2018 Spring semester.

"We need to talk because we are the best match," Borji told the student after he found her at the gym, the report said. "Why can't you understand that?"

Police say Borji's harassment intensified – the student began receiving 800 messages a day from him, including some that were extremely disturbing and gave her nightmares. Borji told her would create "artificial intelligence" of her and then he could "do anything he wanted," according to the report. He would watch her through the gym window for 45 minutes at a time and wait for her in the parking lot. At one point, he followed her in a black SUV. The student was so scared she would not go anywhere alone.

"You should be happy that someone likes you this much to stalk you," Borji wrote to the student in an email, the report said. "You think I am sick and I may be! But I still love you."

Police say their investigation revealed Borji was a suspect in a similar incident at the University of South Florida but was not arrested in that situation.

After police arrested Borji, he didn't deny sending emails to the student and told them he could "apologize to the victim if she was standing in front of him."

Borji is currently being held at the Orange County jail on $1,000 bond and has been trespassed from campus.

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