The New Jersey man accused of stalking and harassing a Long Island nurse for more than three years before he was arrested last week is expected to face upgraded charges on Thursday.
Michal Pacek, 47, of Bayonne, is expected to be charged with a top count of first-degree criminal contempt Thursday morning in Riverhead — the first time he'll face felony counts related to his alleged campaign of stalking and harassment of Melanie Smith, of Suffolk County, prosecutors said.
Pacek did not comment as he was walked out of the Third Precinct in Bay Shore Wednesday morning, nor did he speak in Suffolk First District Court in Central Islip. In court, he pleaded not guilty to three counts of second-degree criminal contempt, a misdemeanor, in a separate case in which he disobeyed a court order last year by failing to show up for a psychological fitness exam.
District Judge Evan Tanenbaum ordered Pacek held until he faces the upgraded charges as prosecutors in Suffolk unseal a new indictment, officials said.
Outside of District Court in Riverhead Wednesday, Smith said she will not rest easy until Pacek is permanently behind bars.
"It doesn't feel real until something finally happens," Smith told members of the media alongside her attorney Adam Uris. "Until he is sentenced. Until other people are protected. And until the law protects victims."
Smith plans to attend Thursday's court appearance, which would mark the first time she has been in the same room as the man who has allegedly tormented her for years.
"It feels really bizarre," Smith said. "And I also feel like it will feed into him a little and that he will almost enjoy it. But I need to stand in my power and show up regardless because that's what really matters."
Lisa Pace, Pacek's court-appointed attorney, declined to comment.
Newsday first reported this month on Pacek's alleged prolonged harassment of Smith, which began in May 2023 after she attempted to sell an old iPhone on Facebook Marketplace and received what she described as a bizarre message filled with graphic sexual remarks from a man she'd never met.
In the months and years that followed, prosecutors said, Smith received hundreds of sexually explicit and violent calls, text messages, social media posts and emails from Pacek, who also allegedly sent her dozens of unsolicited gifts, including an $800 bouquet of roses, more than $500 in cash, 40 pieces of lingerie and sexual paraphernalia.
Smith filed dozens of police reports and has secured three court orders of protection — the most recent one earlier this month — although another request for one was rejected because of a "lack of a relationship" between the two, records show.
"There's this myth that some people portray that an order of protection is going to be some sort of magic shield that's going to keep her safe at night," Uris said. "The only way to keep people like Melanie safe from this kind of violence — and it is violence; it's torment — is to make sure that people who are habitual offenders don't have the opportunity to do it."
Pacek, who has never met or physically harmed Smith, was first arrested in July 2024 on stalking and aggravated harassment charges, both misdemeanors, when he showed up at Smith's parents' house in Suffolk.
During the midnight encounter, Pacek put an item in Smith's parents' mailbox but was chased away by her brothers and father, Uris said. Pacek returned an hour later and was eventually apprehended by police.
Pacek spent about 90 days in a Yaphank jail pending trial before he was found mentally unfit to stand trial. But he was released from a Suffolk psychiatric facility after serving less than one day, triggering the automatic dismissal of both the criminal case and an order of protection Smith had secured against Pacek.
In April 2025, Pacek was charged in Suffolk County — when he attempted to file a criminal complaint against law enforcement officials — with second-degree aggravated harassment and third- and fourth-degree stalking, both misdemeanors, records show.
On the eve of trial late last year, Pacek's attorney again requested a psychological fitness exam but the construction worker failed to show up and a warrant for his arrest was issued for bail jumping and criminal contempt, records indicate.
Following Newsday's coverage of Smith's case, Pacek was arrested by the New Jersey State Police Department's Fugitive Task Force on May 20 on six existing warrants, and he waived extradition back to Long Island on Friday, officials said.