Former Northeastern Track Coach Arrested, Accused of Nude Photo Scheme

Former Northeastern track and field coach Steve Waithe was arrested and charged on Wednesday for an alleged nude photo scheme involving female athletes.

Waithe is formally being charged with one count of cyberstalking and one count of wire fraud. 

He will appear in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois on Wednesday before appearing at a court in Boston at a later date.

Waithe is accused of perpetrating a scheme to "dupe female Northeastern University track and field athletes into sending him nude or semi-nude photos," per a filing from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts. 

Waithe allegedly contacted athletes under the guise of an athlete research or body development study, requesting photos with the athletes in a “uniform or bathing suit to show as much skin as possible," per the Attorney's Office. Waithe also allegedly requested to use female athletes’ cellphones on multiple occasions, claiming he was filming their practices and meets. But rather than film, Waithe is accused of scrolling through photos and other documents on the athletes' phones.

Waithe used multiple pseudonyms as he perpetrated the alleged scheme and received "over 300 related nude and semi-nude images." 

The Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts also alleges Waithe contacted victims with claims that he found compromising photos of them online. Waithe offered to help get the photos removed from the internet, though he then allegedly requested more naked photos he could use for “reverse image searches.”

Waithe served as Northeastern's track and field coach from October 2018 to February 2019. He previously worked as a track coach at Penn State, Tennessee and Concordia University Chicago.