Where'd Todd Go?...
On Dealing With Psychopaths and Stalking
Chapter 16 - THE NOT-SO-BRIGHT THUG
ON FREDERICK SCOTT WEST / KF4VWD
GAINESVILLE AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY
Frederick Scott West/KF4VWD was one of those scary kinds of people. Oh, he seems nice enough and even responsible at first when you're first getting to know him; but as time goes on you begin to realize just how oblivious he is about his personality and how he appears to others. He'd be nice at first to get that "in" with you. Then once he felt comfortable enough around you, his demeanor would begin to change. Thing is, it wouldn't take very long after meeting him for you to start to see this, really. It's like he either doesn't care, or he's just that tactlessly oblivious. And in my experience with this guy, he's just tactless and oblivious. He truly thinks that the thug's forceful and bullying way of handling life is just how things are supposed to go. There's you, the victim; and there's him...the guy who's supposed to push you around. It's sad to believe that there are actually people like this out there but...it's true. He's not afraid to bully you in front of other people and he completely believes that everyone else in the room is actually applauding him and rallying behind him in his efforts. So there's a little bit of a delusional self-centered narcissism thing going on there, too.
You'd always feel awkward and uncomfortable around him and you'd often want to be anywhere else but near him. He wasn't quite "right"; his wiring a bit "off". He was a bonafide jerk, and everybody agreed on that. But like Jeff Capehart, he did favors for people and helped with some public service events and this made him "useful" to people and so they tolerated a lot of his oddness and his often embarrassingly awkward personality. It blew me away just how often the hams strange personalities and not-quite-right behaviors would be "forgiven" by people in Emergency Management and the NWS. It was kinda maddening, in fact. It was insane to watch just how MUCH EM and other agencies and organizations - including the Gainesville ARS and the Gator ARC, would put up with it just because they didn't want to lose a few people who did some extra "favors" for them. Harassment complaints about the hams didn't matter. The amount of public service that they did for Emergency Management and the local ham clubs did. The public service was alibi to constantly excuse their behavior.
Jeff Capehart used Scott to harass me with. He knew how easily Scott could me made to take a simple complaint and fly way off the handle over it. It was so easy to push Scott's buttons, and Jeff adeptly knew how to do it. Jeff planted the seeds of a few basic "complaints" about me, and then left Scott to take things to extremes all on his own. Jeff basically got Scott to believe that I wasn't doing my "job" with Alachua County SKYWARN, and that someone needed to "explain" to me what I was doing wrong, and to set me on the "right path". (This is actually what Jeff did to me with a LOT of people, in fact - including Jay Leiberman, Phil and Melissa Royce, with Emergency Managers Will May and Dave Donnelly.)
Scott decided that the best way to "handle" me was to use strategies such as email bombing me, pager bombing me, leaving threatening messages on my phone, and to ring my phone off the hook trying to force me to answer it. He attacked friends and associations and tried to use public humiliation to embarrass me into compliance. He tried to strong arm me into making him President of Alachua County SKYWARN and to incorporate it so that he could use the money to buy himself and his buddies "things to keep on a permanent personal loan basis". (In other words, the son of a bitch wanted me to help him engage in "embezzlement".)
He used to actually place TAGLINES in his email-bombings.15 Scott actually thought that if he appended some legal-sounding privacy-related "taglines" in his harassing emails, then his messages would be considered "private" and thus "protected" by the law from being used as evidence against him. As well, he thought that I could actually be prosecuted for showing his emails to anyone, and being thus "illegally used", that they would also be inadmissible in any courtroom as evidence for anything. Ergo, he literally thought that he was legally entitled to stalk me, and that he was legally protected from any backlash harm that might come from harassing me.
These are the kinds of brainless morons that Jeff Capehart sent after me!
For a sample of the emails and pages that Scott used to send me, see Log of Harassments - Frederick Scott West/KG4VWD. Note how in one email (see), Jeff Capehart is actually quoted, and you can actually see how he encourages Scott to harass me, citing things that he personally wanted to see done as the excuse to do it, apparently. And within Scott's own complaints Scott gives away the things that Jeff has apparently been telling him about me which made him upset: accusing me of being a "bum" who "has no job" and who "lives with his mother", for examples. And each prejudice was misinformed. ...I worked for the government in fact, and my mother had late-stage cancer and I was taking care of her and it really just wasn't anyone's god-damned business. Jeff's description of me just was NOT "careful" or "prudent" in ANY way, and is in fact quite berating and condescending and irresponsibly inflammatory - which itself also tends to encourage Scott to be mean, and aggravates and inflames him, and gives him "reason" to attack me, because as far as Scott sees, someone else thinks Todd is stupid too, and inside that group mindset, it now makes him feel more justified and encouraged to act this way.
Jeff Capehart had a bad habit of consistently giving Scott (and other strange people) negatively-worded information about me - knowing full well that the information would only work these people up. I'd repeatedly told Jeff NOT to discuss me or Alachua County SKYWARN with him, or with anyone, and he would do it anyway - usually with long emails denying at first that he's talking to him, accusing me of not being a good enough leader, or which contained insults vague and direct, and blaming me for everything that was happening to me. In the same email, he'd suggest that I should harass Scott with insults to embarrass him and show him how stupid he is; and in the next paragraph he'd tell me I should just let it go and that I bring all this upon myself. ...The typical drivel from psychopaths that at first read sounds logical to someone but on the twenty-first read, you scratch your head and wonder how you actually listened to this guy for so long. In fact I'd be doing nothing at all - which is what authorities would suggest. Jeff isn't offering advice, he's just excusing himself to continue to do what I have repeatedly told him not to do: which is encourage people. Normal people would do what I ask and stop because it is obvious that talking to Scott is causing me problems and harm, and they would not argue with me and bicker with me because most people have something called a "conscience" which tells them not to continue to associate with Scott or give him any kind of information about me for fear that it might cause me further problems. Jeff however, would consistently ignore me, and in fact deliberately FIGHT with me, so that he could continue endangering me.16 That's not something anyone who DOESN'T want harm to come to me would do. There is no argument on what a sane person would do in this situation. Jeff has no excuse; no argument, here. He continually placed me in danger deliberately, not just with Scott, either. No other explanation rings acceptable or logical or justifiable. Jeff was doing this deliberately.
Always having to be the harbinger of information, Jeff Capehart told me that Scott once pulled a gun on some people while on his security job at the Gainesville Regional Airport simply because they wouldn't do what he asked, not because they were breaking any real laws. He was fired immediately. You have to have a reason, a potentially life threatening situation, to pull a gun. Whenever you pull a gun there are questions, interviews, investigations...paperwork...as a standard. Not obeying an officer's (or a security guard's) commands is NOT an acceptable situation, or life threatening situation, requiring that a gun be drawn. Frederick Scott West is irrational, hot headed, and not someone who can be controlled. I even remember saying to Jeff one day, "God forbid someone ever put a GUN into the hands of that man." Jeff actually chastised me for being ridiculous and overly paranoid, but over the years he'd continually placed me in the way of harm and harassment knowing that these people were possibly dangerous and he treated it like it was a totally unfounded and overly ridiculous worry. Jeff was extremely irresponsible like this. I often think Jeff was actually experimenting to see how far he could push people and to see if people might actually go far enough to attack me physically and cause me harm, and to see how I would react. I just...felt that from the man. And I wanted him to stop working people up. And no matter how much I begged, pleaded, and tried to explain things to him in logical and reasonable ways (even though it should not have been necessary and the "STOP!" should have been enough in itself), Jeff would on many occasions outright refuse to do as I asked, exclaiming "NO!", and he would continue to work up Jay, Scott, Melissa and Phil, his wife...anyway. He just...he played around too much with dangerous people. He was irresponsible and there was always some imminent consequential problem that always happened to me as a result of his sadistic playing around.
Thing is, Scott was one of those "lower intelligence" ASPD (anti-social personality disorder) types. The short, mean, grunting ogre. The ones always looking to make it a "mission" to harass people and forcing people into doing what they want. He was a bully. He was a failed leader in everything that he attempted. So he followed those he saw as having power. He buddied up with them at first, for the "in's" that they brought him, the "benefits" he could obtain by being friends with someone. He also liked to follow people who gave him freedom and excuse to harass, threaten, and intimidate others. Jeff definitely gave him reason and excuse. He would have repeated talk sessions with Scott and, like having a "pep rally" or something, REMIND Scott about the stupidity of Todd, psyching him up all over again to go forth and harass him. Scott's not totally alone in this. He didn't come up with this stuff ALL on his own. He didn't act like this ALL on his own. Jeff was the initial spark, the driving force, the ringleader who drove him. Scott was just...of the right weak mindset, and...gullible.
In the beginning, before I knew any of the bad stuff about Scott though, I'd once made Scott an Asst. Coordinator for Alachua County SKYWARN because, at first, like Melissa Royce, he SEEMED quite enthusiastic, like he might be helpful. He WANTED jobs to do, seemed energetic and enthusiastic enough to handle it, so I gave him the position. But then he started throwing the title around a lot, I noticed. At the same time, people began to complain about him. Women complained to me that he'd stare straight at their breasts for really long periods even while talking to them. People complained about his vulgar remarks and language17, and about the vulgar comments he'd make about women, too, right in front of you.18 I heard wind of temper tantrums during Emergency Mgmt/ACFR Reserve training sessions, of throwing books at walls, swearing at leadership. He had screwball ideas which he was very serious about. One of them was purchasing an ambulance, painting it SKYWARN orange, putting a SKYWARN logo on it, and...and...to do WHAT? What the HELL would you do with something like that? Where the hell did he think we'd get the MONEY for something like that? He wanted me to incorporate ACS so that we could afford to GET things like that. Spotters spot. That's it. They don't provide pizza for firefighters. They don't drive fire trucks or ambulances. They don't chase storms. They look up, pick up a phone, and report. Period. We don't need a giant, bright orange vehicle with a flashing light on top to do that. And they don't have to pay DUES to do that, either. Stalking and harassing me because I personally thought the ambulance idea was just a TAD-side ridiculous...was...ridiculous.
One day I met a girl who eventually became my best friend. She was REALLY smart, VERY enthusiastic, and knew a hell of a lot about meteorology, and had even chased with the DOW team (Doppler On Wheels) before under Josh Wurman. She graduated at 24 with two simultaneous degrees: BS's in mathematics and in environmental engineering. She knew how to forecast, how to read RADAR and soundings and other charts. She was anxious and very enthusiastic about SKYWARN and it's mission and she really wanted to get involved. She was someone who really knew what she was doing, and I wanted her on the AC-SKYWARN team and was really proud to have her. I remember being SO happy that we'd finally found someone with enough knowledge to begin to actually have presentations about a multitude of weather-related things, given by someone with knowledge and training and experience. I really wanted to impress her with what we were doing and I really wanted her on the team.
But as soon as Jeff found out, any kind of a friendship with her became unnecessarily stressed and difficult due to interference. It seemed to bother Jeff really badly. Suddenly, he couldn't stop asking me questions about her. He could not put it down. He was always wanting information; always wanting to know the latest about her. It was very obvious and unnatural; obsessive; and it was scaring me. If she were a male he wouldn't be so..."adamant" for all this information. But she was female, and pretty, and she was talking to me; and to him I guess that just wasn't right. I would not give out any information about her to him, though, citing flat out that I didn't any longer trust him with personal information or how he might use it. (This was occurring after I'd fired him as an Asst. Coordinator.)
You know, I was actually afraid that it would be his wife Susan who might try to research her and then try to do something to harm the relationship once she figured out how "important" this girl was to me. It just "fit" her. Susan is nosiness, and then deliberate interference. Susan is obsession, and tunnel vision. I honestly thought that that was going to be where any problems with new friends would came from. And I was completely taken by surprise when my worst nightmare did indeed actually happen...only not from Susan...
After a SKYWARN meeting one day (which had been attended by this girl), Jeff immediately got on his cellphone and, regardless of the fact that I repeatedly told him NOT to, he called Scott West and told him about this "chic" who was talking to me. It REALLY, REALLY bothered Jeff that I was in any way associating with a female, like it was something that needed to be "taken care of" or something.
The girl and I walked off away, and began talking privately among ourselves, alone. I left Jeff to continue on his cellphone by himself.
I don't know what exactly Jeff told Scott, but it must have been pretty condescending. I do remember hearing "He's talking to some girl who attended the meeting tonight", and "Oh yah? We'll just have to see about that, then!" Scott was on his way to work at the time, and actually made himself late by detouring so as to come all the way to the CCC Building just to see this "chic" that was "hanging" with Todd. He raced into the parking lot very loudly, and came to a screeching caddy-corner halt into the parking space in front of where we were standing on the sidewalk, leaving a thick white pall of smoke, and actually hitting the back of my knee, causing it to buckle, and I almost fell backward on his car! He got out of the car, and then stood between me and my friend while we were in the middle of a conversation, such that he put the back of his head right in my face, and immediately began berating and insulting me and trying to convince her that I was stupid and a loser. It didn't work, though; and she wasn't impressed. (You see, she's been bullied before too, and immediately recognized this tactic for what it was.)
I was SO humiliated and embarrassed. I held up my arms and apologized. "...I am SO SORRY!", I said. This was the first time that I had met this girl face-to-face. And instead of impressing her with a great organization and great ideas, she had to deal with that. Every time I talked with any women, the hams seemed to go right after them. It was "thing" with them and they'd try to destroy whatever good image of me they might have had. I found I was always repeating "WHY?!" to myself. ...A lot.
For whatever reason, Scott had it in his mind that this "meet" Todd was having "with a girl" needed to be "corrected", and that the girl needed to "understand" what a loser Todd was. ...And he drove out of his way, and made himself late for work, putting his job at risk, and both of our lives at risk by nearly running us down to do it. The "whatever reason"...was Jeff Capehart.
(This would also become the basic idea that the hams would eventually try to spread repeatedly within Emergency Management and in Weather Service circles about me, too - causing fear and panic in government officials, making them fear that I was irresponsible and to doubt in my leadership abilities. In the end, it worked very, very well.)
Scott at the time was married and at the time he had a child who was 8 years old. I remember CONSTANTLY thinking to myself "GOD, what must it be like to have to be the SON of this guy?!" It was a constant moral battle in my mind: "I NEED to call the police...NO, it might embarrass his family, and they've always been nice to me!" It SUCKED to have to deal with that moral struggle in my mind.
A side comment, if I may: I find it exceedingly scary how these weird people seem to have this consistent low-life propensity to HIDE their wicked/bad behaviors behind "public service" and "family life" pictures in order to throw people off; and it sickens, it REALLY sickens me, how it actually WORKS to protect them, too...EVERY TIME. NOBODY challenges the woman with four kids - one of whom recently died of cancer; and if you SUGGEST that this woman could be bad, you are IMMEDIATELY labeled as a huge asshole without so much as a split-second of thought. Nobody challenges the guy who is married with a toddler son, who volunteers for the Red Cross. Nobody challenges the guy who has Emergency Management connections all over the place, University of Florida connections in IT security and in Auditing, who is a member of two ham radio clubs, CERT, ACFR-Reserves, and who is always there to volunteer time to cut or solder a wire for you, or fix a computer problem that you're having, or clear up a networking problem you're having at home. These people hide behind what I'll call a "'can't do without' usefulness" which makes people strongly "addicted" to them in a way that they're not even aware, unwilling to lose them, and thus, who are willing to turn a blind eye to whatever it is the bad people are doing to other people, and even to AID these people in escaping the law, because their usefulness quotient seems to be high enough to make all their bad qualities unimportant and forgiveable...NO MATTER WHAT THEIR SINS ARE. It is an amazing thing to actually watch happen. It's unbelievable and even inconceivable that it could happen. You wouldn't think humans could be so gullible, so weak-willed, so weak-charactered; but apparently, and I can tell you from repeated first-hand experience...the majority of the public has NO internal defensive ability set up within themselves to notice or catch or stop these people. Worse, they can thus be easily misled to be used as a tool of these bad people to bring further harm to the victims...all the while making them believe that what they're doing is for the "right thing" and with "good reasons". They are genius-level smart at manipulating people, in a way that the public is just not prepared to expect. And they look for people who have a propensity to be easily manipulated, people who are weaker-willed, without strong ability to question every action, or to say no, or to stand up for themselves, and who are willing to believe everything without thought or strength to question. These types are perfect fodder for the psychopath. And for a LONG time...I was one. And when I realized what was happening to me and that I was being manipulated and I slowly learned to distance myself from the psychopaths, they began to see me as a threat, and targeted me. Why so MANY psychopaths/ASPDs? ...Because Jeff hunted them down and manipulated them my way, NOT because I was "seeing things". He saw opportunity in the slower-thinking, hot-fused types. The double-plus for Jeff in this strategy is in how he can say that he didn't touch me, that THEY did; and he can add that he didn't "TELL" them to harm me, that they did that on their OWN, and SO (Jeff believes), his hands are not "bloodied".
Jeff had convinced Scott that I was stupid, and so, now thinking he had public acceptance to do so (implied through Jeff), he began to treat me that way. When Scott began harassing and threatening me after that, I fired him, removing his Asst. Coordinator status, while simultaneously telling him that I'd issue a restraining order against him if he ever so much as even discussed me or Alachua County SKYWARN again, and especially if he engaged in threatening or harassing behavior with me again. Scott was also a member of the local CERT group, and got kicked out of that. He never made it past probation with ACFR Reserves due to his tantrums. He eventually got kicked out of local ARES/RACES. He was prohibited from entry into the CCC Bldg at the Alachua Co. Office of Emergency Mgmt. and they actually had his photo posted around the inside of the building warning people about him, and to deny him entry. Even the Red Cross banned him, where he served a few times as shelter communicator during some hurricanes. Officers in GARS and in ARES/RACES knew of Scott's involvement in harassing me, and of the dangerous, irresponsible ways in which he had done it, and they showed no concern for it, and allowed him to operate near other people regardless.
On Scott's QRZ.com web page, he seems to think that it's very important for people to know that he's "working on (his) class G weapons and concelled weapons license". ("Concelled" is his spelling, not mine.) WHY is this important for the world to know that he has a gun and wants to hide it from everyone? This guy is just scary all around.
Do you know that he actually made it into organizations like the Florida Repeater Council? That's right. He's served as "Vice-Director" for District 7 (our area) from 2005 to about 2014. People like that in positions like this give psychopaths and people with other ASPDs an immense power that they can use to abuse and harass others with. Had the FRC known the problems that we were having with Scott here in Alachua County I seriously doubt that they would have accepted his application or his involvement at all. By the same token, had ACOEM known about the legal history of Phil and Melissa Royce, I doubt they would have cooperated with them in ANY of their suggested endeavors, or given them any of the positions that they had. Did the Royce's LIE on their applications with ACOEM, or withhold information that ACOEM and ACSO has right to know? It looks like this is the case, indeed. Scott gets onboard certainly NOT because he's bragged about all of the illicit things that he's pulled in the past. On the other hand, ACOEM and ACSO have only themselves to blame for not performing a fuller background search and checking with the Clerk of the Court records in West Palm Beach where the Royce's are concerned. They ROYALLY screwed up, there. Look at what Phil and Melissa were able to do with Emergency Management, with the Weather Service, with GPD. I think it is a lesson for everyone, here, though, to note how people of this sort always attempt to find positions of power up on high, and then to abuse that power to cause harm to others. You'd think that in knowing this, that people in powerful positions would be better at combing these people out before they get in. I guess not.
But I'm just a rambling lunatic. What do I know?
In July of 2007, Scott sent an email to the then ARRL NFL Section Manager Joe Bushel/W2DWR, complaining about the police knocking on his door one night because I had called the police after I'd received Melissa's harassing email, (see Chapter 14, above). Only at first we didn't know who had actually sent the harassment email. There were misspellings, and the M.O. was VERY similar to what Scott had pulled about a year-and-a-half before. I told them to check with Scott West and to ask him if he had sent it. After all the things that Scott had done to me two years before - the email bombing, pager bombing, threats on my answering machine, etc., and then ADMITTING that he had indeed done that to the officer who had knocked on his door at that (it's in the initial police record), I found it to be the height of ridiculousness for Scott to complain because I had called the police and had them bother him for something that had happened which had an M.O. very similar to what he himself had pulled before. The man actually wanted an apology from me and his email was complaint to Joe requesting that the ARRL take some action against me.19 (sigh) But there you go. Again, an ARRL SM was notified of a problem where a ham had the cops called on him and it was...handed off...to yet another one of my stalkers, Jeff Capehart, because he didn't want to deal with it. (Yet AGAIN! Jeff Capehart in the middle!) And yet again, no one did anything. (sigh) (THIS...is why Jeff Capehart always knows so much - because EVERYONE shares everything with him; and also why nobody does anything about him, because he is ALSO the invaluable SOURCE of information.)
What a moron, though. Scott engages in stalking and harassing me, leaves threatening messages, etc. THESE things he excuses away vaguely as "the cost of doing business" (while not going into detail on the "specifics" of what those tactics of doing business were). Then he wants the ARRL to take some form of corrective action (presumably against Melissa and Jeff) for covering it up, and (presumably against Melissa) for sending the email. A man who used to sit at a computer for hours while repeatedly tapping SEND to send me harassing emails and pages, and who used to leave so many messages on my machine that it became full, and who used to threaten me...THIS VERY MAN...wants an apology...AND CORRECTIVE ACTION?
At every step I complained to EM, the NWS, and local clubs about Scott and it REALLY bothers me how with all of the troubles that EVERYONE experienced with Scott, every agency blew me off and treated me like I was being totally ridiculous.
At one time I was planning to press charges against Scott. I came SO VERY, very close. But I stopped dead in my tracks because his little son was only ten years old; and I knew his wife, and she was never mean to me. She was always polite. All I could think about were things like...little Gregory getting beat up in school because...I dunno...because someone had heard about his father being "that guy on TV-20 who was arrested and put in jail" (kids are cruel); or of his wife being suddenly without his income - because *I* had taken it away, and I felt so very guilty. So, I never did file charges. Can you believe that? The guy STALKS me, and *I* feel guilty for thinking about calling the cops on him! (sigh!) You'd think he'd have been grateful for someone being so cool after how he treated me, and stopped. No. He kept on for a while. (sigh) I should have never done that. I shouldn't have given him ANY break. I should have pressed charges right then and there, regardless. You don't give these kinds of people any breaks. They just get worse. I didn't know that then. I know it now, though.
This is apparently a common thing among victims. It is well-documented. Victims often never report things because, believe it or not, they don't want to cause harm to the other family of the stalker, or even to the stalker himself/herself. Isn't that amazing? It's because we keep trying to assign normal conscience to someone who has none, and we keep hoping and expecting that these people will eventually come to their senses and realize what they're doing and stop. But it never happens...because they're not normal. They don't think like us. They truly believe that what they're doing to you is justified, and that it's your own fault. And they continue for as long as you'll let them to. But once you realize who they really are, and any leftover spells are gone, they get even worse.
Interesting to note is that my Navy friend was attacked in various ways by Scott, by Jay Lieberman, and by Jeff Capehart. Were they after HER, personally? No. They were attempting to get to ME, by USING her - attacking her for two, no three reasons: 1) to try to embarrass and humiliate me into doing what THEY wanted, 2) to embarrass me by (they hoped) causing her to lose respect for and belief in me and 3) to hurt me by causing her to turn away from me - be it directly through the subterfuge or through her (and her husband's) own fear of the apparent danger involved in associating with me, with the hoped for ultimate intent of leaving me without any friends at all and all alone. (Jeff himself also attacked Angie Enyedi of NWS-JAX in similar ways, and other people that I knew and/or who were important to me in some way or another, too - attempting to scare them, quite successfully, with weird emails and conversations touting supposed problems with me which were always mundane and really petty and nonsequitor if one would just sit back and really listen to what he was saying. And he always attempted to disguise these things under the guise of "helping a friend" so that instead of seeing what he was really doing, people were fooled into thinking he was just such a great guy and trying to do me a "favor". And he is such a pain in the ass in that way! No one ever sees through him and everybody seems to believe in him like he's the Christ Child or something...even when the wrongdoings are done right in front of everyone's noses.)
UPDATE, October, 2010: After finding a newsletter from the Jacksonville Episcopal Diocese of Florida, it appears Scott has aligned himself of late with a Catholic charity organization. An attempt to hide behind it as alibi, perhaps?