The stalker of a public radio DJ in Minnesota was sentenced to five years of probation Dec. 30, according to the Hennepin County (Minn.) Attorney’s office.
Mary Lucia, a host for Minnesota Public Radio’s Triple A music station The Current, took a leave of absence from April to November last year after being stalked and harassed by Patrick Henry Kelly. Lucia began receiving phone calls and packages at work containing items like raw meat and a photo of a masked man after she responded with sympathy to an email Kelly sent her about his dog dying.
“I would dread going to work to see what horror had been dropped off,” Lucia told the court, according to the press release.
“I never opened my windows,” she said. “I jumped whenever the motion sensors went off. I triple-locked my doors. When I went to bed at night, I slept with a baseball bat and a cell phone near me.”
In addition to receiving the maximum probation sentence available for the charge of stalking and terroristic threats, Kelly was ordered by a judge not to go within ten blocks of Lucia’s home or workplace and to pay restitution of $9,222.99. Kelly did not receive jail time in addition to the 197 days he had already served. He was released from prison on the day of the sentencing.
“I’ve realized I’m strong, but I’m not that strong,” Lucia said in a letter after returning to her job in November. “I’ve needed help and still do in order to be the person I know I am capable of being.”
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