Designer to Be Imprisoned, Deported for Stalking Actress

An Italian fashion designer who pleaded guilty to stalking “NYPD Blue” actress Andrea Thompson after their romance soured was sentenced Monday to two years in prison to be followed by deportation.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Frank Johnson disregarded pleas for leniency and said Gianluigi Assenato--who designed five dresses worn by actresses at this year’s Academy Awards--must be sent back to Italy when he is released from prison.

Johnson imposed the sentence despite pleas by Assenato’s friends and family members and arguments by his lawyer that the case boiled down to nothing more than a “relationship gone bad.”

“Enough is enough,” said defense attorney Jeff Rubenstein. “This is a man with no history of violence, a man who’s never served a day in custody before this case.”

But Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Scott Gordon said the defendant deserved a prison term because “he doesn’t have respect for the court; he doesn’t have respect for the law; he doesn’t have respect for the family.”

Assenato, 34, who began dating Thompson, 38, after making her a dress for the Emmy awards, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a felony charge of stalking her.

Prosecutors say he slashed Thompson’s tires and made threats against her and her child, both in person and by telephone over a six-month period after she ended their relationship.

The judge said he was concerned that Assenato committed the offense while on probation for grand theft involving a $10,000 check.