Stalking

A defense attorney was convicted this week of stalking a former girlfriend and faces up to four years in prison. David Scharf, 46, was found guilty of a felony count of stalking and misdemeanor counts of sending harassing e-mails and violating a restraining order. Scharf, a Corona del Mar resident, met the woman online in 2004, and she broke off the relationship four months later. Prosecutors said he continued to pursue her, sending harassing and threatening e-mails, which violated a restraining order not to contact her. He will be sentenced June 13. -- H.G. Reza

Actor Peter Robbins, who provided the voice of Charlie Brown in eight "Peanuts" TV specials between 1965 and 1969, has pleaded guilty to threatening and stalking his ex-girlfriend and a plastic surgeon who gave her a breast enhancement. Robbins, 56, entered his plea in a San Diego court Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. He could face up to three years in prison when he's sentenced next month. According to prosecutors, Robbins called his ex-girlfriend multiple times a day and threatened to kill her and her son if she didn't give back his car and his dog, whose name is Snoopy.

SAN DIEGO - A veteran teacher at a Catholic school has lost her job because school officials are worried her ex-husband, now serving a jail sentence for domestic abuse and stalking, will pose a danger to students and teachers when he is released. When Martin Charlesworth, 41, showed up at Holy Trinity School in El Cajon in January, school officials put the school on lockdown and called police. By coming to the school, he was in violation of a restraining order, court records indicate.

I have been in love with Howlin' Pelle Almqvist from the Hives since 2004, when I first caught sight of him strutting onstage one hot Texas afternoon at South by Southwest. So when I found out that the hard rocking band from Sweden was going to play the main stage at Coachella last year, I made it my mission to meet him. Stalking a rock star at one of the world's largest concerts is no easy feat, and I didn't have the right equipment, meaning a backstage pass. However, last year was the first year that Coachella was staged for two weekends in a row, so there was twice the opportunity and twice the angst.

A young woman whose diary entries told of her fear of her ex-boyfriend and helped convict the man of her murder were read in court again Friday as he was sentenced to more than 100 years in prison. "I swear to God that I hate Richard Namey," Sarah Jane Rodriguez had scrawled on a scrap of paper days before she was shot to death. "I hope he goes to prison for life. He is just so very mean to me."

Actor-director Mel Gibson took the witness stand Thursday in the trial of a man accused of stalking him, telling a jury he feared for the safety of his wife and children after being confronted by Zack Sinclair at a chapel where Gibson attends services. Sinclair, 34, who is acting as his own attorney, did not cross-examine Gibson. Sinclair is charged with one felony count of stalking.

A transient who represented himself in court was convicted Friday of stalking actor-director Mel Gibson. A Van Nuys jury deliberated two hours before finding Zack Sinclair guilty of stalking Gibson at his Malibu home and a church, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley. Sinclair, 34, faces 16 months to three years in prison, Robison said. "I think he will probably end up in a mental health hospital of some sort," said Deputy Dist. Atty.

On K8 of the Feb. 28 Times, you ran the headline "Amorous Tenant Not Owner's Problem" above the Apartment Life column. The headline referred to the first letter in the column--a female tenant asking for advice after being repeatedly stalked by a male tenant. The reply to her letter is fine; the headline, however, is not. Stalking is a crime, often with violent, even deadly consequences. Many states are now passing anti-stalking laws, and Congress is introducing such legislation.

Robert Ray, a former independent counsel who investigated President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, turned himself in to police on charges of stalking a former girlfriend, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office. New York police say Ray's former girlfriend, a 40-year-old Manhattan woman, filed a complaint that he persisted in sending e-mail and knocking on her door months after she broke off their relationship.

A Lancaster probation officer was arrested Monday on charges of threatening, stalking and filing a false crime report against a woman he once dated, authorities said. Gordon Wilbur Griffith Jr., 55, is a night supervisor for six youth camps run by the county Probation Department. He has been on paid leave since sheriff's deputies began investigating him a few months ago, said Chief Probation Officer Richard Shumsky.

Rhubarb is one of the great joys of spring, with its rosy color, earthy tang and old-fashioned allure, and the story of its local rise and fall is as intriguing as its flavor. Just a generation or two ago, it was widely cultivated in Southern California, but now local rhubarb is available almost exclusively at farmers markets, and just from a handful of vendors. Rhubarb is native to central and northern Asia, where its roots were harvested for millenniums for their medicinal properties.

Former tennis star Jennifer Capriati has been investigated by North Palm Beach, Fla., police for numerous battery and stalking allegations by ex-boyfriend Ivan Brannan Jr. A police report stemming from a Valentine's Day domestic incident at a health club said that there is probable cause to arrest Capriati for “battery for punching and pushing Brannan” and “stalking Brannan on a constant basis from phone calls, text messages, showing up...

JS Communications Co., a South Korean entertainment and media company, has signed a letter of intent to acquire the assets of El Segundo-based Rhythm & Hues, the visual effects house that recently filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors. JS Communications, a diversified entertainment and media company, on Thursday agreed to enter into negotiations to buy Rhythm & Hues, according to a document filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles. Rhythm & Hues retained investment banking firm Houlihan Lokey Capital Inc. to solicit bids for Rhythm & Hues, which recently won an Oscar for its work on the Ang Lee movie "Life of Pi," and is one of Hollywood's premiere visual effects companies.

On a day in early January, a man walked up to the front door of a South Bay home and knocked. The homeowner, a captain in the Los Angeles Police Department, looked outside. Although the two had met before, the captain didn't recognize the large black man standing in his walkway and waited behind the closed door until he left. Weeks passed, and the 23-year veteran of the LAPD thought nothing more of the encounter. About a month later, the face he had seen outside his home was everywhere - staring out from the front pages of newspapers, TV screens and wanted signs on billboards throughout the city.

Give Me Everything You Have On Being Stalked James Lasdun Farrar, Straus and Giroux : 224 pp., $25 When someone crawls over Madonna's garden wall or breaks into Brad Pitt's house, it's unpleasant but not unexpected: the price of fame, if also prosecutable. Imagine, though, if in the course of your everyday, nonfamous life someone emerged with a similar obsession. First they seemed affectionate, then convinced of a deep connection, then became furious and set upon destroying your life.

It is not humane treatment of animals to place a killing machine in their midst. Nor is it humane treatment of animals to allow one to live, with the knowledge that others will die painful deaths because of that act. The damage that outdoor cats do to populations of birds and other wildlife has been documented and fretted over for a long time, and it's always made me worry that the trap-neuter-release programs for feral cats -- cats that are genetically...

An Oregon woman accused of stalking actor John Cusack for years was released from jail Saturday after accepting a plea agreement that allowed her to avoid prison time. Emily Leatherman, 34, pleaded no contest to felony stalking Friday. She was sentenced to five years' probation and mandatory psychological counseling. She was also ordered to stay away from the actor for 10 years. Leatherman was arrested outside Cusack's Malibu residence in April. The actor had obtained a restraining order against her in 2006, but according to his representatives, she continued writing him threatening letters and visiting his home and office.

A woman pleaded no contest Friday to stalking and threatening Oscar-winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones as prosecutors dropped 21 other charges in the case. The plea deal in Los Angeles County Superior Court means Dawnette R. Knight, 33, faces a maximum of five years in prison instead of 19 years. "This was a fair and reasonable disposition," Deputy Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Debra Archuleta said. "The victim is satisfied with the agreement."

Words I never thought I'd say: Justin Bieber has a point. The pop star this week called on lawmakers to crack down on thuggish paparazzi behavior after a photographer was killed in a traffic accident while stalking Bieber's Ferrari in West Los Angeles. Bieber wasn't behind the wheel at the time. "Hopefully this tragedy will finally inspire meaningful legislation and whatever other necessary steps to protect the lives and safety of celebrities, police officers, innocent public bystanders and the photographers themselves," he said in a statement.

Asteroid alert! On Friday night an asteroid the size of a small house will come whizzing by Earth. And it's coming pretty close. NASA researchers say the asteroid called 2012 TC4 will come within a quarter of the distance from the Earth to the moon. The good news: It is still far enough away that there is no chance of an impact. The even better news for amateur astronomers: The asteroid should be visible with nothing more than a small telescope, according to Spaceweather.com.