New law seeks to stop stalkers in their tracks
Marlboro resident recounts how one man has tormented her
BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer
The hair-raising feeling that someone is watching you is a terrifying reality for one woman who lives in Marlboro.

Her experiences, combined with the help of Marlboro police Detective Sgt. Paul Reed, Marlboro police Detective Ross Yenisey, Manalapan Police Chief Stuart Brown and state Assemblyman Mike Panter (D-Monmouth and Mercer), have led to the drafting of a new law that would issue stricter penalties and change the definition of stalking.

Panter introduced the proposed legislation (A-4354) in June before the Legislature left for its summer recess. The bill has been referred to the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

Under the terms of the proposed law, stalking would become a more significant crime and would enhance the ability of law enforcement personnel to investigate and to respond to instances of stalking.

The bill received additional information from the National Center for Victims of Crime, Washington, D.C., and the New Jersey Coalition for Battered Women.

The woman whose frightening experiences helped lead to the creation of the bill asked to remain anonymous. Since the newspaper's policy is to withhold the names of domestic violence victims, that request was granted. In an interview with the News Transcript, the Marlboro resident recounted what she has endured, and continues to endure, at the hands of her stalker for 10 years.

The incidents started on Christmas Eve 1997 when she received a late-night telephone call.

"The voice on the other end was reciting lines from the movie 'Scream,' " the woman said.

The stalker was not only repeating lines from the movie, but was using a voice changer to mirror the murderer in the film. She said the calls quickly became a pattern.

The woman's case has been handled by the U.S. Secret Service and by the FBI. The FBI was involved because the case is considered an interstate stalking, which criminal code states is a federal crime.

She said one Secret Service representative suggested that she check to see if she was missing anything. Heeding his advice, she discovered some pictures and her high school yearbook missing. She did not say specifically where they were missing from. The woman said she was told that stalkers will take such items so that they feel they have a piece of their victim.

In hopes of strengthening the nation's laws, the woman testified at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Hearing in 2000. Her testimony was for the "Stalking and Victim Protection Act of 2000." Her words were used in support of the reauthorization of Violence Against Women Act (VAWA II) the same year. In her testimony, she recounted the events of the previous three years. Since that time the disturbing list of contacts has grown.

In the opening of her testimony, the woman recalled how the stalking events started after she refused a man's attempts to have a personal relationship with her.

According to her testimony, while she was on vacation in another state she discovered that the stalker was aware of her every move. What was supposed to be a fun time turned into a situation which she said gives her nightmares.

The hotel room was booked under a friend's name, yet in one instance the room phone rang and there was the voice singing "Happy Birthday" to her. Local police had the phones to the hotel room turned off for the remainder of her stay.

Upon arriving home from that trip, there was a police escort at the airport waiting for her. The officers walked her family through the airport with their hands on their holsters, she said. The officers even searched the hired car that had come to pick her up and questioned the driver.

Other incidents over the years have included someone slicing the screen on her sliding door, ripping the flagpole off her house and stabbing it into the front door, and chopping the bushes in her yard to give a better view of her windows.

"One Labor Day I was sick, so last minute I decided to go see an early movie," she recalled.

When she exited the theater she discovered that the side of her car had been kicked in.

At times, she said, the stalker would back off. When she remarried, the incidents started again.

She and her husband had a small wedding outside of New Jersey. Two days of wedded bliss was all she was allowed and then her and her husband's cell phones started ringing constantly with the stalker on the opposite end.

An unknown person or persons have used her credit cards and have also been able to determine how she has used them, she said.

Through the years she has moved and continuously changed her telephone number, but that still has not stopped the stalker from finding her.

"I don't give it out, just to a few close friends," she said. "Despite all of the shocking and at times horrific events of the past 10 years, under the current New Jersey stalking law, because the stalker has never told me he is going to kill me, the police are unable to subpoena phone records or prosecute. Even if the police could proceed with a case, a violation of the current stalking law in New Jersey is little more than a misdemeanor or a slap on the wrist."

The way the law currently stands, a person can only be found guilty of stalking if his actions cause the victim to fear bodily injury or cause the death of the victim or the victim's immediate family member.

Law enforcement personnel said that in practice, the stalker must make an outright threat against the victim's life in order to be convicted under the law.

The woman said she believes the law Panter has proposed will be a giant step forward.

Panter said waiting until an actual threat of bodily harm is made can be too late.

The woman said one problem with being the victim of a stalker is trying to get people to believe it is happening. She said at one point she was told it would have been better if she had been raped because at least then there would be evidence of a crime.

In a press release, Panter called current laws relating to stalking outdated and said they do not take modern technology into consideration.

"This legislation will give law enforcement the tools they need to properly assess and respond to this dreadful behavior," he said.

Brown, the Manalapan police chief, said he became involved in the situation when the woman, who is a friend of his from high school, approached him to ask if he would help sponsor the suggestions for updating the definitions of stalking.

According to the bill, the new definition of stalking would state that a person is guilty of the crime of stalking if his or her actions cause the victim to fear for his or her safety or the safety of a third party.

Also under the bill the definition of "course of conduct" is amended to include "directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means, following, monitoring, observing, surveilling, threatening, or communicating to or about, a person, or interfering with a person's property; repeatedly committing harassment against a person, including but not limited to repeatedly making telephone calls."

The new language and definitions have been introduced to cover stalking by means of new technology.

Under the proposed legislation stalking would be upgraded to a third degree crime, where previously it had been a fourth degree crime. Should there be a case of second and subsequent offenses, if the defendant commits the crime of stalking while in prison, on parole or probation, or if the victim is under the age of 18, this is still a third degree crime with a mandatory six-month jail sentence without the eligibility of parole.

A third degree crime is punishable by imprisonment of three to five years, a fine of up to $15,000, or both. Fourth degree crimes are punishable by imprisonment of up to 18 months, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

"I think this is a step in the right direction," Yenisey said.

Yenisey said the new law, if passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor, would allow law enforcement agencies to get involved in a stalking situation sooner than they are presently able to do.

Right now, as Yenisey explained it, telephone companies will not surrender records to the police in New Jersey until a warrant or a subpoena is presented.

"The proposed new stalking law introduced in the Assembly in June by Assemblyman Panter will help me and also change the future for other stalking victims in New Jersey. Bill 4354 not only elevates the severity of the crime, but the criteria for initiating a stalking investigation will be 'course of conduct' or 'pattern of behavior' and not a death threat. Instead of New Jersey lagging behind the rest of the country in dealing with the crime of stalking, New Jersey will set the bar for the other 49 states to follow. I look forward to sitting in the State House in the near future when bill 4354 becomes a law," the woman said.

Yenisey said he was happy to have the opportunity to help with the wording of the bill. He said it is rare that officials come directly to the police to ask their opinion. He credited Panter's office for reaching out to see what would help law enforcement agencies assist stalking victims.

Yenisey said he hopes the bill will bring justice and closure to people who are dealing with these types of situations.

The Legislature is expected to reconvene in November.

When the situation began in 1997 police did not know how to deal with it, the woman said. As time has gone on they have worked harder to help her. She praised the efforts of the Marlboro Police Department, Brown, Panter and Bruce Shapiro, Panter's chief of staff.

"I'm in very good hands," she said, adding that she has written to Gov. Jon Corzine to praise the help she has received.

The best advice, according to the woman, is to "keep a detailed log of all of the events that happen - date, time, telephone numbers, witnesses, as much factual detail as possible so that you have a record. Stalking is a very frustrating crime to solve and it may not be solved quickly, but that log will prove invaluable in the hands of the right detective."

The Stalking Resource Center of the National Center for Victims of Crime reports on its Web site that about one million women and 371,000 men are stalked annually in the United States.

"Try and stay calm and remember that slow and steady wins the race. You need a good support system and you need to have faith that the judicial system does work," the Marlboro woman advised anyone who may be in a similar situation.