FBI agents make arrest in Center City in high school stalking case
Federal agents have arrested a 20-year-old Philadelphia man on charges of cyber-stalking a girl while in high school.
Federal agents on Thursday arrested a 20-year-old Philadelphia man on charges of cyberstalking a teenage girl while he was in high school.
Federal prosecutors said that they arrested Mikael Laferla, previously known as Mikael Zarett, on a single count of cyberstalking and that he is scheduled to appear in federal court Friday. He was arrested at the Center City home of his mother and stepfather.
The FBI said in a criminal complaint that the alleged victim told Lower Moreland police in 2018 that Laferla had threatened to distribute, via social media, pictures depicting her unclothed if she didn’t agree to perform sex acts on him. He and the girl were both about 17.
The affidavit by FBI special agent Adam Sucheski said that Zarett, who had been a student and rowing and squash athlete at Shipley School, a Bryn Mawr prep school, later enrolled at Fordham University in New York and began using the last name Laferla.
The investigation began in October 2018 after the girl’s mother went to police in Lower Moreland. The affidavit did not address why there was no arrest until 28 months later. Nor did it explain why the FBI got involved. The FBI would not answer those questions. Police in Lower Moreland said reporters would have to file a Freedom of Information request and wait for any information.
Laferla was arrested by the FBI on Thursday morning at the house on Delancey Place of his stepfather, Richard Vague, appointed last year to serve as Pennsylvania banking and securities secretary.
Last year, Vague’s wife formally changed her name from Victoria Laura Zarett, to Victoria Laura La Ferla. Authorities spelled her son’s name as Laferla in the arrest papers.
Laferla’s father, Joseph Zarett, declined comment. Vague issued a statement saying the arrest was unrelated to himself or his wife. “I have no additional information to share and ask for privacy for my family at this time,” he said.
Staff writers Dylan Purcell, Jeremy Roebuck, and Sam Wood contributed to this article.