Jessica Ralston wins "Most Desired By Stalkers" award

[genlock]

A Cabell County man has been arrested on a charge of stalking WSAZ Anchor Jessica Ralston.

Chris David Jones, 47, of Barboursville was arrested Wednesday after allegedly stalking the local newswoman for three months, according to a complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.

He began contacting Ralston in April with the intention of starting a relationship with her, the complaint says. Ralston told the man that she wasn't interested, but he persisted, the complaint says.

She called the State Police for assistance in May when Jones showed up in the parking lot of the television station's Charleston office and refused to leave until he spoke to her.

Cpl. S.D. Schoolcraft from the State Police detachment in Quincy responded and found Jones still in the parking lot, the complaint said.

Schoolcraft told Jones that Ralston was not interested in a relationship with him and that he was frightening her. The trooper told him the news anchor didn't want him to contact her anymore.

Days after that incident, the phone calls to the WSAZ newsroom resumed.

This isn't the first time a fan has become little too interested in her, said Ralston, 35.

In 2007, Roger Shabdue, 54, of Boone County sent a letter to the WSAZ newsroom that raised the possibility he could go to a school and begin killing students. He demanded that the television station get rid of a reporter there.

Boone Sheriff Rodney Miller said after the 2007 incident that Shabdue had been infatuated with Ralston and believed she was speaking directly to him in her newscasts. Shabdue was arrested hours after the news station received the letter.



Ralston said Thursday she made different decisions when Jones began harassing her because of the Shabdue incident. She said she ignored Shabdue for three years before he sent the letter concerning the school. She didn't want the situation with Jones to escalate so she called the police, but there was little they could do.

"It's something I might want to take to the Legislature because I couldn't get a restraining order against him or a DVP (domestic violence protective order) against him because he wasn't my husband or boyfriend," she said. "All I could do was hope he didn't come back."

She began having someone walk her to her car at night. Meanwhile, others working in the newsroom kept logs of Jones' calls and were under orders not to let him speak to Ralston.

Cpl. C.H. Flowers of the State Police detachment in Huntington went to Jones' Trails End Road home on July 1 to tell him for the second time that he was not to contact the news station or Ralston.

Jones complied until Aug. 4, when he hand-delivered a letter addressed to Ralston at the Charleston news station.

Troopers said Jones again asked Ralston to be in a relationship with him.

Jones has been charged with stalking, a misdemeanor, and is being held at South Central Regional Jail on $10,000 bond. If convicted, he faces up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.