Judge Orders Woman Not to Go Near Antonovich : Protection: The mental patient allegedly harassed and threatened to kill the supervisor.

A Superior Court judge has ordered a mental patient to stay away from Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who she allegedly harassed with death threats and vandalism because of a “longstanding romantic infatuation” with the politician.

Judge Joseph R. Kalin signed a temporary restraining order July 6 after Antonovich accused Eileen Kristovich of threatening to kill him, his sister and his sister’s family.

Kristovich, who was admitted to a psychiatric ward at County-USC Medical Center after the alleged threat was made, is accused of making the death threat to Antonovich’s sister on July 2.

By telephone, Kristovich accused Antonovich of following her in his county car and vowed that she would shoot him the next time she saw him in that automobile, records said.

She claimed she would shoot Madeline Pangborn and her two daughters.

Antonovich met Kristovich many years ago when his parents were in business with her parents, court papers said.

The Glendale Republican said in court documents that Kristovich harassed him when he was a state assemblyman in the 1970s, leaving love notes at his residence in Sacramento.

The supervisor also accused Kristovich of dumping red paint on his car and damaging it with a beer can opener.

The supervisor, who is single, also complained that Kristovich followed him on dates, belligerently confronting his companions.

Antonovich, 50, declined to talk Tuesday about the legal action.

His spokesman, Dawson Oppenheimer, said the supervisor had characterized his dilemma as a “fatal attraction,” the title of a popular 1987 movie about a woman obsessed with a married man.

“Supervisor Antonovich says the less said about this case, the more humane it is for this woman and the better it is for his family,” Oppenheimer said.

Kristovich, reached at County-USC, also declined to comment.

Antonovich said in his court complaint that he had not heard from Kristovich for a long time until last month, when she happened to see his sister, Pangborn, at a traffic signal.

In her declaration, Pangborn said the encounter ended after the two exchanged pleasantries.

But on July 2, Pangborn said she received a phone call from Kristovich, who was “incoherent and belligerent.”

Pangborn said Kristovich claimed she had been secretly planning to marry Antonovich but would not go through with it because he had been unfaithful.

She said she was tired of him following her in his car and would shoot him, with the gun she said she carried, the next time she saw him in his county car.

An hour later, Antonovich’s office received a rambling call from Kristovich, which was interpreted as a threat, the complaint said.

After Pangborn called police, Kristovich was taken to County-USC, court records indicate.

Richard E. Townsend, an attorney with the county counsel’s office, will ask on July 27 that a permanent restraining order be issued against Kristovich.

Defending the use of a county attorney to represent Antonovich, Oppenheimer said the supervisor probably was threatened only because he is a public official.