An Idaho Falls man has been charged with felony stalking for alleged continual harassment of a woman who works at a retail store in Ketchum.
Douglas R. Larson, 43, pleaded not guilty to first-degree stalking at his arraignment Monday in Blaine County 5th District Court. Judge Robert J. Elgee advised Larson that the crime is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Larsen remains incarcerated in the Blaine County jail on $75,000 bond.
According to Blaine County court records, Larson pleaded guilty last September to second-degree stalking, a misdemeanor, for harassing the same woman. He was sentenced to 36 days in jail, fined $1,335, and placed on two years supervised probation.
Court records further state that Larson was convicted twice in December of violating a no contact order regarding the same woman. In each case he was fined $75. The no contact order specifies that Larson not be within 300 feet of the woman.
Larson's latest arrest was on Feb. 19 after he was allegedly closer than 300 feet to the woman and called her on a telephone at her place of employment.
A probable cause affidavit filed by Ketchum police Officer Michal Grigsby states that the woman told Grigsby that "she is fearful that Larsen may escalate his attempts to contact her and that he may resort to violence."
"On this occasion she told me that she is still afraid of him and that she is constantly fearful of him contacting her and that she lives in fear of him," Grigsby wrote.
"I know that Larson has been contacted and arrested a number of times by officers from several law enforcement agencies in Blaine County," Grigsby wrote.
The probable cause affidavit states that Larson's telephone records were subpoenaed in an earlier case and that Larson had called the woman 178 times between Oct. 7, 2008 and Nov. 23, 2008.
Hailey attorney Douglas Nelson has been appointed public defender. A jury trial had not yet been scheduled because Elgee was disqualified as presiding judge by the Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
Douglas R. Larsen
