Stalker laws / harrassment

[enoughalready]

What is the name of your state? Georgia
I don't know if I am posting in the right section, please direct me to the appropriate forum if needed.

A woman in MI is harrassing my wife and I and after many attempts to settle this with her, I feel I have no other option but to involve the law. She is contacting us via telephone at our house and at my wife's workplace. These calls normally are received between 12:00 midnight and 3:00 a.m. and voice messages are left. I have contacted my local court (Fulton County Magistrate Court) and have been told that unless she threatens bodily harm I can not get a restraining order. I was advised by a local attorney to file for a Peace Warrant but when I tried, the Court had no idea what that was. I was told by another local attorney that Fulton Co. has no jurisdiction on someone in Wayne County MI and that I would have to file a Personal Protection Order (PPO) in Wayne County MI. I contacted the Wayne Co PPO Office and they say that I cannot file a PPO because I do not have a Wayne Co address. I did contact an attorney that would represent me in Wayne Co but he wants $4000 to file the PPO. Is this really my only recourse??

Thanks in advance.

 

[quincy]

You can file a PPO order in Fulton County, where you live, that would cover you in the event this woman comes to Fulton County, but the advice you have been given is correct. Without any threat of violence, the court would probably not issue a PPO against a woman residing in Wayne County whose only contact with you is through harassing phone calls. Should these calls become threatening, however, then a PPO is a viable option for you.

Your best recourse is to change phone numbers to prevent the calls at home. The workplace calls could be screened, but may be more difficult to prevent.

 

[enoughalready]

thank you for the response. According to both Georgia and Michigan Stalking laws, any contact without consent can be considered stalking. This has been going on for months, do I have no legal recourse?

 

[quincy]

Michigan has, perhaps, the strongest stalking law in the country, but to be considered stalking, repeated and continued harassment must make a "reasonable person" feel threatened, terrorized, frightened, intimidated or molested. Harassment that is repeated without permission must result in emotional distress so significant that it would require medical treatment.

I am sure these calls are annoying, but it is difficult to feel terrorized by someone calling from several states away, unless there a history between you and this woman that would make these calls especially threatening. Is there?

Stalking laws are reserved for those cases where contact by the person is cause for alarm. Continuous, unwanted and harassing phone calls, alone, would make every political candidate about now a stalker otherwise.

 

[CdwJava]

Assuming that these repeated cals are a crime in your state (and they could be in mine), the odds of GA issuing an arrest warrant for someone IN MI is somewhere between nil and none. They just are not going to extradite for what is likely a misdemeanor harassment or related charge.

Perhaps just ignoring her will convince her to go away. Or, asking your phone company how you can block her number.

It's a bear of a problem because it's a low level crime that straddles jurisdictions in two states, and it just isn't a big enough deal to get either state or county amped up enough to act on it.

- Carl

 

[veruca47]

phone harrassment stinks!

You have my sympathy. In the mid-1990s, I received repeated nasty messages on my answering machine from an ex-boyfriend who was a LMSW social worker of all things. (I live in Texas.)

The police were sympathetic but said that since I wasn't directly threatened - technically, the ex had threatened the machine, not me! - there was nothing they could do.

Call blocking didn't work as he would simply use another phone after I blocked a number.

What DID work was sending a tape of his threats to the state's social worker licensing board. It shut him up quickly and permanently.

Sometimes you have to be creative - as long as you're within the law of course.

 

[quincy]

verca47 - Although that was an effective and creative solution to your problem, and could very well work for enoughalready, there are SOME states where your solution of tape recording a phone conversation would be illegal. Michigan and Georgia both have "one party" laws, which allows one person who is a party to a conversation to tape record the conversation. Some states, however, require that BOTH parties to the conversation know of the taping before the conversation can be recorded.

 

[scaredalot]

My ex boyfriend started out harrassing me by phone calls, text messaging and emails. I went to Hall county court house and they said nothing they could do. Now he is starting to come to my work and call and harass me and my boss. I was told if I didnt get it taken care of I needed to look for another job. He is also coming to my house and scaring my kids as well. I am scared of him because he has multiple felonies that do consist of aggrivated asault. Hall co now tells me I have to file in the county he lives in which is really inconvenient for me. I live and work in Hall Co. I am getting harassed in Hall Co. why cant I file where I live?

 

[Zigner]

My ex boyfriend started out harrassing me by phone calls, text messaging and emails. I went to Hall county court house and they said nothing they could do. Now he is starting to come to my work and call and harass me and my boss. I was told if I didnt get it taken care of I needed to look for another job. He is also coming to my house and scaring my kids as well. I am scared of him because he has multiple felonies that do consist of aggrivated asault. Hall co now tells me I have to file in the county he lives in which is really inconvenient for me. I live and work in Hall Co. I am getting harassed in Hall Co. why cant I file where I live?

You need to start your own thread.

 

[misunderstood7]

got a question

i got a ppo for stalking delivered to me. now i sent this girl a message telling her i was gunna have a 14 year old girl beat her up (she is 21) if she didnt give me back my property. what i want to know is how is this anything like stalking i dont near her house near her work or anywhere near her if i seen her in public i minded my own buisness ignored her. as it is i hardly ever leave my house anyway. i know that message wasn't right to send her i was extremely mad at her because i had asked her for over a year to give my property to her friend to give back to me but she wouldn't thats what made me mad at her. so what i wanna know is if there is anything i can do like put a ppo on her? also would like to know if thats considdered her defamating my character? or if there is anything i can do at all in return because she has officially messed my life up now because me and her live like 5 miles apart my son goes to school where she lives so its highly likely that we will run into each other. the ppo was signed by a judge march 31st of this year and i didnt get it untill april 10th. i got my property back when the cop dropped off the ppo. so now i dont care to ever see this person again or talk to her again. just wondering what i can do.

 

[cyjeff]

i got a ppo for stalking delivered to me. now i sent this girl a message telling her i was gunna have a 14 year old girl beat her up (she is 21) if she didnt give me back my property. what i want to know is how is this anything like stalking i dont near her house near her work or anywhere near her if i seen her in public i minded my own buisness ignored her. as it is i hardly ever leave my house anyway. i know that message wasn't right to send her i was extremely mad at her because i had asked her for over a year to give my property to her friend to give back to me but she wouldn't thats what made me mad at her. so what i wanna know is if there is anything i can do like put a ppo on her? also would like to know if thats considdered her defamating my character? or if there is anything i can do at all in return because she has officially messed my life up now because me and her live like 5 miles apart my son goes to school where she lives so its highly likely that we will run into each other. the ppo was signed by a judge march 31st of this year and i didnt get it untill april 10th. i got my property back when the cop dropped off the ppo. so now i dont care to ever see this person again or talk to her again. just wondering what i can do.

You can start your own damn thread and not hijack someone else's ... especially one that already HAS a poacher on it.

Geez.