Man Pleads No Contest Under New ‘Stalking Law’
A Sherman Oaks man who police say repeatedly harassed and threatened his ex-girlfriend pleaded no contest Monday to violating the state’s new felony “stalking law.”
Mark Bleakley, 30, who wept during a brief appearance in Van Nuys Municipal Court, faces up to three years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 15.
Bleakley has been in jail since May 24, when he became the first person in California to be charged under a law that makes it a felony to harass someone repeatedly, even though the individual acts might only be misdemeanors.
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