North Port woman who was stalked by YouTuber Ian McGuire speaks out

A woman was stalked and terrorized for two years. Her assailants are now in federal prison but Gayle Whitesall remains afraid.

Whitesall sat down with WINK News to speak about her experience being harassed by Ian McGuire, a 31-year-old Port Charlotte Youtuber who once mailed her a dead kitten.

Earlier this year, McGuire was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty for his crimes.

A grand jury indictment filed in the Middle District of Florida states that McGuire and co-defendant Bretton Osborne “used facilities of interstate commerce, including the mail, electronic mail and internet websites” to cause emotional distress and put Whitesall in fear of serious bodily injury.

Osborne, a fan of McGuire’s, saw videos of the woman on the YouTube channel and helped McGuire terrorize Whitesall. Osborne was sentenced to three years and eight months. The two of the men will have to pay Whitesall restitution and McGuire has also been ordered to remove the YouTube videos from his site.

“The stuff that is going on, I was afraid,” Whitesall said. “I couldn’t even let my granddaughter walk up the street to her friend’s house.”

Whitesall said even though both men are in prison, she remains scared.

“I got the brunt of it, that’s the thing,” Whitesall, of North Port, said.

She got about 898 phone calls that threatened her grandchildren with rape.

In addition to the dead kitten, Whitesall also received fecal matter and sex toys in the mail.

A restraining order against McGuire didn’t help. The two men even swatted Whitesall. Swatting is when someone makes a prank call to emergency services claiming someone at a home is in trouble, bringing dozens of law enforcement agencies to the victim’s home.

“They faked a 911 call that we were being attacked inside of our house and the Northport swat team came over with four police cruisers and guns drawn,” said Ross Whitesall, Gayle’s husband.

Throughout the ordeal, Whitesall’s priority was her grandchildren.

“You don’t mess with my grandkids,” she said. “I’ve got 10 of them. I would give my life for those kids.”

Now that McGuire and Osborne are in prison, the Whitesalls believe justice has been served. But, still, they remain afraid.

“Those people still had my name, my phone number, it was pinned to the top of his channel,” McGuire said. “What they did, they changed my life forever.”