Fake 'Freddie Krueger' Sentenced For Stalking Actress Eva LaRue, Her Daughter For 12 Years

An Ohio man who called himself “Freddie Krueger” was sentenced to more than three years behind bars for stalking and tormenting “CSI: Miami” actress Eva LaRue and her daughter for more than a decade by threatening to rape, torture and kill them.

James David Rogers, 58, was sentenced Thursday to 40 months in federal prison for “his 12-year campaign of harassment” against actress Eva LaRue, who is known for her role in both the popular crime drama as well a lengthy stint on “All My Children,” according to a statement from the United States Attorney’s Office Central District of California.

Rogers pleaded guilty in April to two counts of mailing threatening communications, one count of threats by interstate communications and two counts of stalking after prosecutors laid out a terrifying campaign to torment the actress and her daughter beginning in 2007.

From March 2007 to June 2015, Rogers mailed approximately 37 handwritten and typed letters to LaRue or her daughter — who was just 5 years-old when the threats began — that were filled with violent imagery and threats to rape and kill them.

He signed the letters “Freddie Krueger,” “Freddie Kruger” or just simply “Freddie” in reference to the fictional serial killer depicted in the successful “A Nightmare on Elm Street” movie franchise.

“I have finally found my dearest whore,” he wrote in one message, according to a grand jury indictment. “I am going to take my revenge on you and your daughter. There will be no place on this earth that I can [sic] find you. I am going to rape you.”  

Rogers then went on to describe in graphic detail what he hoped to do to the actress and her daughter, before concluding the note “My lord Satan has promised me that I will take demonic possession of your body and your daughter’s body for my own sadistic pleasure. I will see you soon my lovely whore. Love, Freddie Krueger.”

In another letter from 2007, Rogers threatened LaRue that the previous Mother’s Day “may be your last.”

“I have been thinking how I am going to rape and kill you and your daughter,” he said.

The first year alone, prosecutors said he sent 11 separate messages.

“His letters were meant to terrify and intimidate, and [Rogers] succeeded in that aim from the start,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

In the years that would follow, Rogers continued to taunt the family, threatening LaRue’s former romantic partner and reaching out directly to her young daughter.

“My main mission in life is to stalk you rape you, and terrify you,” he wrote LaRue in one note. “I want to make your life so miserable that you can’t stand it.”

Prosecutors said the “constant letters” gave the actress and her daughter “no respite” even after they tried to move to escape the abuse.

“[Rogers’] threats impacted the daily lives of his victims,” prosecutors wrote. “[LaRue and her daughter] moved numerous times in hopes that [Rogers] would not find them again. They drove circuitous routes home, slept with weapons nearby and had discussions about how to seek help quickly if [Rogers] found them and tried to harm them. They tried to anonymize their addresses as much as possible by avoiding receiving mail and packages at their actual address. To no avail. Each time they moved, [Rogers’] letters — and the victims’ terror — would always follow. And [Rogers] knew it.”

“I am back to stalk you,” in wrote in one letter, according to the sentencing memorandum.

Rogers also sent letters addressed to LaRue’s daughter at her school, threatening to rape her, impregnate her with his child and kill her mother.

His threats against the girl escalated in 2019, when he began repeatedly calling her school, pretending to be her father and asking the staff whether she was in class that day.

On Nov. 7, 2019, Rogers left a chilling message on the school’s voicemail referring to the child by name.

“Hello, I want to leave a message for [the alleged victim],” he said. “This I the man who is gonna rape her, molest her and kill her. My name is Freddy Krueger. Just let her know. Thank you.”

Rogers, who had been working at a retirement and assisted living facility in Ohio, was arrested by the FBI the next day. Investigators discovered the cell phone that had been used to make the calls in his possession along with numerous photographs of LaRue and her daughter, authorities said.

Prosecutors had asked that Rogers receive the maximum possible sentence of 57 months behind bars.

Before the 40-month sentence was handed down, LaRue addressed the court in an emotional victim impact statement, according to Deadline.

“We didn’t know if he would show up on our doorstep,” she said. “We will think about him for a lifetime. The fear is with me forever.”

Rogers, who appeared via Zoom, addressed LaRue directly and apologized for putting her family through the “hellish nightmare.”

“I hope someday I can earn your forgiveness for my misdeeds,” he said. “I wish someone had intervened much sooner and I was caught much sooner.”

His attorney, who had argued for home confinement, said in court that Rogers was “actually a very sweet, gentle person” but said he had struggled with mental illness.