Stalker used mail, Internet to terrorize

Erik Bowker could get up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced later this year.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A city man will be sentenced in late summer for stalking and terrorizing a former local TV reporter.
Erik Bowker, 39, was found guilty by a jury this week in U.S. District Court, Cleveland, of stalking via the Internet, interstate stalking, mail theft and telephone harassment.
He faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in late August or early September, said Edward Feran, assistant U.S. attorney. Judge John Manos ordered a background check before sentencing.
The jury deliberated less than an hour before returning its verdict, Feran said. He said Bowker is the first person in Ohio to be convicted under the revised federal anti-stalking law.
When it went into effect in 1996, the statute addressed only cases in which a person travels to harass a victim. It was expanded in October 2000 to include the use of mail and the Internet, Feran said.
Who was stalked
The victim, Tina Knight, was a part-time reporter for WKBN in Youngstown from March to October 2000, when she left to take a full-time job at a TV station in Charleston, W.Va.
"He just saw her on TV, doing the news, and became an obsessive viewer," Feran said of Bowker.
Feran said Bowker made repeated telephone calls to Knight, both at work and at her homes in Youngstown and West Virginia, where she kept unlisted telephone numbers. He also sent her letters and e-mail messages that became increasingly obsessive, sexual and threatening.
Bowker made at least two trips to West Virginia in July 2001, apparently to observe Knight, though he did not contact her directly.
"The first time they were ever in the same room together was the day she testified against him in court," Feran said.
Bowker filed a civil lawsuit against Knight in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in February 2001. In it, he accused her of harassing him and making false statements against him. He dropped the suit a month later.
bjackson@vindy.com