A Canadian resident faces two federal stalking charges after allegedly pursuing a former coworker to Dallas, where a neighbor’s doorbell camera captured a masked person at her apartment door.
A federal grand jury indicted Nikolay Sapov on charges of stalking through interstate travel and stalking through electronic communications, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould announced Wednesday.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested Sapov on August 22 on a Texas stalking warrant. Sapov retains the presumption of innocence, and prosecutors must prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Encounters at the Dallas apartment
Sapov and the woman met while working in player services at the Miami Open tennis tournament in 2021, FBI Special Agent Danielle M. Manning wrote in an affidavit supporting the federal criminal complaint. Over several years, he allegedly contacted her repeatedly outside work, located family social media profiles and sent unwanted gifts and correspondence expressing his love for her.
She spotted Sapov near her gated Dallas apartment complex on June 22, 2026. After another encounter, police issued him a trespass warning around 2 a.m. June 23, Manning wrote.
A neighbor’s doorbell camera recorded a person wearing a full rubber mask at her door on June 24. The person matched Sapov’s build and footwear and fled after the neighbor spoke through the camera’s microphone, the affidavit alleges.
The couple spent 14 days in hotels between June 24 and August 3 and purchased a firearm for protection, Manning wrote. Relocation and security measures cost them approximately $4,000.
Messages and border arrest
Sapov allegedly continued sending unwanted messages through August 20, including an artificial intelligence-generated image showing himself with the woman, the affidavit says.
Border officers arrested him two days later on an Amtrak train entering the United States from Canada. A search of one phone revealed street names near the woman’s neighborhood, locksmith-company screenshots, a sexualized photograph of women’s shoes and explicit AI-generated photographs and videos of a woman resembling her, Manning wrote.
Sapov told investigators he sought her because he believed she owed him business-related money. He also acknowledged wearing a mask to conceal his identity after an encounter with Dallas police, Manning wrote. The affidavit notes that earlier tennis-related texts contained no threats.
“No individual has the right to terrorize another human being or shatter their sense of safety inside their own home,” Raybould said in the release.
If convicted, Sapov faces up to five years in federal prison on each count, followed by supervised release and possible financial penalties, prosecutors said.
In a separate case, The Dallas Express previously reported that Robert Bevers received a 20-year prison sentence for stalking a Frisco woman.
