PHILADELPHIA, PA — A Delaware County man pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges of stalking by mail and witness tampering after admitting to sending threatening letters over nearly seven years and continuing to contact the victim after being warned by law enforcement to stop.
Stephen M. Cilurso, 73, of Aldan, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Gail A. Weilheimer to one count of stalking by use of the mail and one count of witness tampering, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania stated.
Federal prosecutors charged Cilurso by information last month after his March arrest on a criminal complaint and arrest warrant. By pleading guilty, he waived prosecution by indictment.
According to court filings and admissions made during the plea, Cilurso mailed multiple letters containing threats and homophobic slurs to the victim between about May 31, 2019, and March 21, 2026, in Delaware and Philadelphia counties.
After law enforcement confronted him on March 3, 2026, prosecutors stated that Cilurso admitted sending the letters. Authorities alleged he then mailed four additional letters identifying himself by name and urging the victim to withdraw from the criminal investigation, writing that his life was in the victim’s hands.
Federal prosecutors alleged that agents instructed Cilurso on March 17 not to contact the victim again. Despite that warning, he allegedly sent two more letters.
According to prosecutors, one letter stated, “I will not go back to jail,” and included threats of suicide along with the requests to “drop the charges against me” and “let me live.” In another letter, prosecutors alleged Cilurso wrote, “I do not ever want to go back to prison … don’t let the FBI put me back there.”
Cilurso is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 17. He faces a maximum possible sentence of eight years in federal prison.
The FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Philadelphia Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Morgan is prosecuting it.
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