Woman fled Florida to escape ex, then he threatened to kill her sister, toddler, feds say
A woman “uprooted her life” in Florida to escape her abusive ex-boyfriend, who federal prosecutors said then started relentlessly harassing and threatening her sister.
Aaron Thomas Fister’s abuse against his ex-girlfriend was so “extreme” that she fled her home and moved hundreds of miles away, leaving her family and belongings, according to prosecutors.
After she left, Fister targeted her sister in late 2021 and called her hundreds of times, leaving a series of violent voicemails, prosecutors wrote in court documents filed in the Middle District of Florida, ahead of Fister’s sentencing hearing on Feb. 14.
He started harassing his ex-girlfriend’s sister when they both lived in Lee County, in southwestern Florida, according to prosecutors.
In the voicemails he left for her, Fister made graphic threats, saying he was going to kill his ex-girlfriend, the sister and the sister’s daughter, who was about 1 years old, according to prosecutors.
He threatened to torture and decapitate the child, prosecutors wrote.
Fister also carried out physical harm against his ex-girlfriend’s family members, including repeatedly slashing a relative’s car tires and firing paintballs at a family home, according to prosecutors.
Now, Fister, 30, of Bonita Springs, has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison on charges of interstate transmission of threats and stalking, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida said in a Feb. 18 news release.
Fister’s defense attorney, Desiree Wilson, didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Feb. 19.
Before his sentencing hearing, Wilson wrote in court documents that “Fister’s crimes resulted from a serious mental illness which was untreated for most of his life.”
Fister committed himself to therapy, and his “behavior changed drastically,” according to Wilson, who asked the court to consider a sentence that wouldn’t involve incarceration.
“Now that he has received regular, meaningful, and effective treatment for his mental disorders, he examines his conduct at issue in this case and feels significant remorse and regret,” Wilson wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
During what prosecutors called a “years-long campaign of threats and harassment” against his ex-girlfriend and her family members, prosecutors said Fister also smashed vehicle headlights, tracked a victim with a GPS device and tried hitting a pregnant victim with his car.
On Nov. 7, he pleaded guilty to interstate transmission of threats and stalking, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Ultimately, the judge handed Fister the sentence suggested by prosecutors.
In the government’s sentencing memorandum, prosecutors argued in support of sentencing Fister to 30 months in prison, a sentence at the lower end of the guidelines range.
Prosecutors wrote that the sentence would consider his mental health condition and also hold him accountable.
“Although (Fister) argues that his actions were influenced by mental illness, the harm done to these individuals is the same regardless of the reasons for (Fister’s) actions and regardless of his recently improved mental health,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 11:40 AM with the headline "Woman fled Florida to escape ex, then he threatened to kill her sister, toddler, feds say."
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