Michael Acuna

By Cecilia Levine From Daily Voice

A Lyndhurst man with a long history of harassment, stalking, and violating court orders was arrested after authorities say he sent lewd and threatening messages to a woman on Instagram — and then called police pretending to be an attorney to ask about the investigation.

The case around 32-year-old Michael Acuna began on May 15, when a woman working in Woodcliff Lake reported that she “was being harassed on Instagram,” Woodcliff Lake Police Chief Stephen Regula said in a news release. 

The victim told investigators she had been receiving “sexual and threatening Instagram messages for several weeks” from a man, later identified as Acuna. She said that some of the pictures were of the defendant’s genitals, and that Acuna also left voice messages on Instagram threatening the victim, Regula said.

Detectives identified Acuna through grand jury subpoenas sent to Meta Platforms Inc. On June 30, investigators say Acuna called the lead detective disguising himself as an attorney and asked questions about the ongoing case. The detective recognized Acuna’s voice through the voice messages that he sent to the victim in the past, Regula said. Acuna then admitted to the investigator that he was the actual person who was calling for information and he was not an attorney, Regula said.

Acuna was arrested on an active warrant on Nov. 17 and taken to the Bergen County Jail pending a future court hearing. He was charged with cyber harassment, lewdness, false information given to law enforcement, and terroristic threats.

Court records show Acuna has been charged repeatedly over the past decade. He was charged with contempt for violating a court or a protective order in February 2025, February 2021, and April 25, 2017, the last of which also included stalking and harassment. In June 2016, he was charged twice with contempt, followed by two counts of harassment in September 2016, all out of North Arlington.