Stalker’s Victims Seek to Reclaim Lives at Sentencing

Together, they came to take a stand Thursday, this handful of former strangers, these women who had been singled out by stalker David Arthur Carlsberg.

On the day of his sentencing in the Santa Monica courthouse, three victims of one man’s obsession offered him the same exacting look with which he had menaced them at different times, on different streets, in different darkened public garages, day and night, over the years.

Carlsberg’s targets--at least six in all--included a teacher, a nurse and a college athlete. And they all, for better or for worse, bear a striking similarity to blond, lithe former UCLA volleyball standout Laura Jones, Carlsberg’s first victim, whom he began tormenting in 1989.

He followed the blue-eyed woman incessantly, as he did the others, called her at all hours, wrote her letters, made inquiries about her to friends and at places she went. And finally, he attacked one woman.

Now, hand in hand, the prey sought payback from the predator. Despite advice from attorneys that their presence in court might excite Carlsberg, the victims successfully pleaded with Judge David D. Perez to have Carlsberg register as a sex offender so the system can better track his whereabouts for the rest of his life.

In a plea agreement, Carlsberg--a wealthy Westside man whose late father founded the Carlsberg Corp., once among Southern California’s biggest land development firms--had pleaded no contest to one count each of stalking and sexual battery. He was sentenced to two years confinement in a local mental health facility and 10 years probation during which he must avoid his victims and the UCLA campus.

Her voice breaking in anger, Jones told a packed courtroom how Carlsberg had profoundly damaged her life. She stood at a podium not 10 feet from the stocky, wooden-looking man in a rumpled brown suit coat, who hung his head in silence.

“I must be allowed to lead my life without the shadow of David Carlsberg following me,” Jones said without looking at him. “It has gone on far too long.”

Experts say the average stalking victim in Los Angeles is likely to be a woman like Jones. In a city where media attention often focuses on the travails of celebrities like Madonna who have been stalked by fans, the crime in reality takes a more everyday twist:

Most stalking victims, authorities say, have no particular claim to fame, other than to suffer a relationship gone bad or emerge as a face in the crowd that is, by malevolent chance, suddenly seized upon by someone like Carlsberg.

One victim said Carlsberg never even knew her, but pursued her solely because of her likeness to Jones.

“I’m the enigma,” said Julia, a 34-year-old registered nurse whom Carlsberg fondled near a Santa Monica automated teller machine in 1995. She does not want her last named published. “I’m the tall, 6-foot blond with blue eyes and shoulder-length hair. David Carlsberg tried to take over my life. I want to let him know I’m going to take it back.”

On Thursday, the women spoke out against a law enforcement system that they say let them down until recently by not doing the one thing that would make Carlsberg go away: Take him off the streets.

“If he ever comes near me,” Julia told Judge Perez, “I will pursue every legal action . . . to ensure my safety and the safety of other women in this community. Let this be a wake-up call to you!”

For years, Carlsberg’s victims had turned to police in Santa Monica and at UCLA, where his crimes took place. Authorities made a series of misdemeanor arrests for trespassing and other violations; they issued temporary restraining orders, sent him to jail for two days and ordered psychiatric treatment. Felony charges were finally brought against Carlsberg last year after the ATM attack on the nurse.

Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Lydia Bodin, who prosecuted the case, said she was satisfied by the outcome:

“These women have been terrorized, so no matter what the sentence, it would never be enough. But my concern was that David Carlsberg be taken off the street and monitored. And that has happened.”

Across Los Angeles, stalking has become so prevalent that the Los Angeles Police Department created a special unit to pursue such predators. The department’s Threat Management Unit was formed in 1991 in the wake of two attacks: the stabbing of actress Theresa Saldana by an obsessed fan and the murder of television star Rebecca Schaeffer by stalker Robert Bardo.

“We thought we’d be handling nothing but celebrity cases,” said Det. Doug Raymond of the threat unit, which was not directly involved in the Carlsberg case, “but that’s turned out to be far from the reality.”

In 1996, the Los Angeles police worked 161 cases, only 12 of which involved celebrities. Victims also included 36 less-visible entertainment industry insiders, 10 professionals such as doctors and therapists and one elected official. But nearly half--77 in all--involved ordinary people.

While California has anti-stalking laws on its books, with penalties ranging up to four years in prison, investigators say the crime remains difficult to pursue.

“It’s hard for even prosecutors, judges and juries to conceptualize how a victim could allow such inappropriate behavior to go on so long,” Raymond said. “There’s the nagging thought that maybe the victim has done something to encourage the stalker, like the way rape victims were once viewed. We’re trying to change that.”

As a freshman volleyball player at UCLA, Jones said, she felt that she was alone in dealing with Carlsberg’s advances, which started when he approached her after a match. He repeatedly called her at home, followed her to games and practices and waited for her in parking garages.

“David Carlsberg took my daughter’s identity away from her,” said Jim Jones, a retired Seal Beach dentist. “She felt ostracized from the team and the coaches. It was like it was him and her out there, with no one able to come between them.”

After numerous confinements, Carlsberg stopped pursuing Jones, whose volleyball career was cut short by an injury. Then, reportedly after seeing a Meryl Streep film that reminded him of Jones, he reappeared, making trips to Orange County to find her home and leaving dozens of messages on her answering machine.

Eventually, authorities said, Carlsberg’s frustration in locating Jones led him to seek out others who looked like her, including several UCLA students and Julia, whom Carlsberg approached at a McDonald’s restaurant, asking if she was “a model or volleyball player.”

Nine days after he was deposed in a civil suit filed by the Jones family, a panicked Carlsberg attacked Julia. Hours later, after being released on bond posted by his mother, he restarted his campaign for the nurse.

Like some ill-meaning detective, Carlsberg tracked down Julia at coffee shops and throughout her neighborhood. Finally, after several other stalking incidents involving other women, Carlsberg was charged last year with six counts of felony stalking and one count of assault with intent to commit rape and sexual battery.

On Thursday, Julia told the court that her life had been inalterably changed and said she dreads the day when Carlsberg will be released in July 1998.

She said: “I cannot walk down the street with the same confidence I once had and not be suspect of friendly passersbys’ ‘Hello.’ ”