FIU Graduate Student Arrested for Stalking Professor

Martina Brady/ Staff Writer

FIU police arrested graduate student Huayan Gao last Wednesday for harassing an FIU professor by sending sexual and threatening emails. 

On Jan. 13,  four FIU police officers found 24-year old Gao carried two knives in his backpack as he was being detained at the Modesto Maidique Campus. 

He was taken into custody at the College of Arts, Science and Education (CASE) building. 

A police report shows the CASE professor, whose name was redacted, received emails of death threats and sexual comments in October from a sender named Phil Outland.

The IP address showed someone sent the emails using FIU’s campus internet. At the time, police found no one named Phil Outland associated with the university.

Upon further investigation, university police identified Gao as the person sending emails to the 40-year-old professor and her family. The police report does not state how he was identified.

The student, who taught chemistry classes as a teacher’s assistant, received his bachelor’s of science in chemistry from the Ocean University of China before enrolling at FIU. 

He was charged for written threats to kill or do bodily injury, weapon possession on school property, and stalking. He was processed at the FIU Police Station and taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. 

As of today, Gao’s case remains ongoing.

“The case is still going through the judicial system,” said FIU chief of police, Alexander D. Casas. “There has not been a final disposition in the courts.” 

This story will be updated