Crazy Christmas Stalker

[Sapphire Silk]

Speaking of banning, if there's any chance of him getting out of the slammer, I'd consider getting a restraining order, especially since he followed you home and now knows where you live.

Quoted for Truth. Get a restraining order against this nut.

Glad you're OK.

[AyreBiskits]

holy crap on a crap cracker!!! BAN HIM!!!
omg, and definately get a restraining order on him! this guy is a certified nutjob!

[taxguykarl]

Good that this stalker was arrested. Definately:
1) Get a restraining order in case he makes bail.
2) Get the word to corporate.

[Chazzie]

Holy shit! That is TERRIFYING!

Please keep us updated, this guy deserves a restraining order for sure!

[2gigch1]

Sadly, I didn't catch where he was actually arrested. With a story like this I must admit I am looking for some consequences.

[LoneCat617]

Update:

So I have a few new details. First of all, due to the large amounts of people waiting to go in front of a judge, this guy will be in jail until the new year (apparently the criminals of this city have had a very busy holiday season). The officers I talked to also recommended a restraining order so that's in the works right now.

As for work, I filled out an incident report, however I haven't heard anything about what they are going to do (if anything). My manager has officially banned him from the store. The Corporate Head Office is actually in my city and thanks to some drama a couple years ago I actually know and am on good terms with the VP of Operations. I made an appointment with her for Thursday to discuss what happened so that she knows what is going on (I don't trust my manager's supervisor to actually do much with the incident report).

I'll update again when I have more information and thank you everyone for your support!

[XCashier]

this guy will be in jail until the new year

Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

My manager has officially banned him from the store. The Corporate Head Office is actually in my city and thanks to some drama a couple years ago I actually know and am on good terms with the VP of Operations. I made an appointment with her for Thursday to discuss what happened so that she knows what is going on

Sounds like so far, so good. I hope everything works right for you, and that jackass gets a nice long jail sentence, one long enough to drive home the lesson that being a bully will only bite him in the ass.

[ShadowBall]

Yikes, that's definitely a scary story - glad you're okay and things did not go worse.

Also glad to hear that you've got a lot of support legally and at work. Getting a restraining order will be good, but from what I have seen, they are pretty much worthless. If this guy is willing to wait for you for an hour and then follow you home, odds are he will not be deterred by a piece of paper. I'm sure he'll get out of jail, so all I can really say is be on the lookout for him - I would not put it past such a nutcase to get out of jail, violate a restraining order and follow you home again to teach you a lesson for putting him in the slammer (since he feels he's done nothing wrong and you were just mean to him). And, gods forbid, if there is a next time, your landlord might not be in the right place at the right time again.

Hopefully the guy can be kept far, far away.

[Food Lady]

I'm glad you're ok. This is one of the crazier stories I've read on this site.

[Redbeard]

Glad to hear you made it out without injury.
Imagine dumbass explaining THAT one away ... "I spent 4 days in jail because I had to pre pay"
Why 4 days, you ask?
Because he would need to be arraigned, and since Christmas was a Federal hoiday, that would leave Monday...wait, that's a Federally observed holiday since Christmas was on sunday this year, so no judges until Tuesday, with a 3 or 4 day backlog means he'll most likely get out on Wendsday.

[starsinthesky]

Get some pepper spray, also carry your keys with the key sticking out b/w your fingers. That way if someone tries to grab you, you just punch, pointy end first.

That is super scary. Glad your ok.

[earl colby pottinger]

A restraining order means if you have to defend yourself from him in the future, then all questions will be about what was he doing around you, not what you did to defend yourself.

[Sapphire Silk]

Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

Sounds like so far, so good. I hope everything works right for you, and that jackass gets a nice long jail sentence, one long enough to drive home the lesson that being a bully will only bite him in the ass.

Sadly, he will plead it down. I saw crap like this all the time when I worked in the jail.

When he gets arraigned, he'll get set bail. Unless he has a history of skipping court, it will be low. He pays 10% to a bail bondsman and he's out. But the bond conditions should also require he stay away from the OP (still get the restraining order, it may last longer than the criminal case itself and can be renewed); go near the OP and the bondsman will revoke the bond (and keep the cash he was paid to get the jerk out in the first place).

If he can't afford a lawyer, he'll get a public defender who will quickly encourage him to negotiate this down to a lesser charge, probably a misdemeaner, and may ask for probation before judgement if he has no criminal record (keeps his nose clean for his probationary period, usually a year, and no record).

My guess is he'll get between 30-180 days in jail for this, depending on his prior criminal history, plus restitution, plus probation. The good news is, he'll have to pay court costs and he'll have to pay the costs for his own probation. The courts will garnish his wages and/or lock him up again if he fails to pay that.

He may try to blame the OP in court, but that'll fly like a fart in church. Even if his twisted version is what happened, he can't justify following someone home and vandalizing their car because he THOUGHT someone accused him of being a thief. An accusation that is so laughable in its face that it won't matter if he has a bench trial or jury trial, he'd be laughed out of the courtroom (not that I think it'll go to trial; I think he'll wise up and take a plea before then).

The question I have for the OP is: did you notify your insurance company? You probably should. You'll need to get your car fixed, and your insurance company will go after dipwad in civil court to recover the costs, and you can do so in civil court to get your deductible back (though you'll probably get it back in restitution).

If he owes restitution and gets any serious jail time, the state will take restitution out of his jail money account to pay it off.

so all I can really say is be on the lookout for him - I would not put it past such a nutcase to get out of jail, violate a restraining order and follow you home again to teach you a lesson for putting him in the slammer (since he feels he's done nothing wrong and you were just mean to him). And, gods forbid, if there is a next time, your landlord might not be in the right place at the right time again.

Unfortunately, this is a true statement. The OP will need to exercise a little more caution. However, given that the original case involves violence and damage to a vehicle, the cops will have NO problem believing the OP's safety is at risk. They'll lock him up again in a heart beat. It's not like a DV case where both parties are equally pissy to each other and the cops are just sick of getting involved.

Get some pepper spray, also carry your keys with the key sticking out b/w your fingers. That way if someone tries to grab you, you just punch, pointy end first..

Check your state and local laws first! It might be legal to possess, and illegal to actually use. And you would need to learn how to actually use it.

My suggestion would be take a self defense class as well.

Glad to hear you made it out without injury.
Imagine dumbass explaining THAT one away ... "I spent 4 days in jail because I had to pre pay"
Why 4 days, you ask?
Because he would need to be arraigned, and since Christmas was a Federal hoiday, that would leave Monday...wait, that's a Federally observed holiday since Christmas was on sunday this year, so no judges until Tuesday, with a 3 or 4 day backlog means he'll most likely get out on Wendsday.

Might even be a day or two longer. New Year's is a Federal holiday as well

A restraining order means if you have to defend yourself from him in the future, then all questions will be about what was he doing around you, not what you did to defend yourself.

This is a true statement, but won't do the OP any good if the dipwad decides to go round 2 and actually violate the restraining order.

Restraining orders act as deterrents. They're actually pretty effective because most people don't want to risk getting locked up for violating one. The biggest weakness they have is the people under them are often related to the person who took them out; so the person who takes it out ignores the violations until something else happens.

The OP won't do that. IF she so much as catches dipwad out of the corner of her eye, she can, should, and hopefully will have him back in jail before he blinks.

[Tama]

May I just say you have a kickass landlady with an even more kickass husband?

[energyguy]

About the only positive is that everybody seems to be dealing with it the right way (bar the dick), management are not blaming you and the police are taking it seriously. Most importantly you are still unharmed, i have come across a lot of cases like this that turn very bad very quickly.