Man Accused of Stalking News Anchor

A 49-year-old Georgia man was arrested at a Burbank motel, accused of stalking and harassing television news anchor Kelly Mack, police said Wednesday.

Gerald Bertolini had driven from his home in Alpharetta, Ga., to Burbank, where he called the local NBC affiliate Tuesday and asked if he could see Mack, police said.

Mack alerted authorities to Bertolini’s whereabouts, and police arrested him about 10 p.m. that night at the Burbank Inn and Suites. He was booked into Burbank City Jail on suspicion of felony stalking. On Wednesday he was transferred into the custody of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Threat Management Unit, which has been monitoring his communications with Mack since 1995. He is being held in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Mack said Bertolini first contacted her in 1987, while she was a news anchor at WXIA-TV in Atlanta. Since then, police said, he has tried to reach her by calling, mailing letters to her at home and sending faxes to the television station. Police said they consider Bertolini’s actions a clear threat.

Mack, who co-anchors the 6 p.m. newscast on KNBC (Channel 4), said she has never met Bertolini.

She said the alleged stalker once sent her a picture of the Baby Jesus, stating that he and Mack should create the second coming of Christ.

“He thought we are supposed to be together,” said Mack, who is married and has two children. “It was completely unnerving and really disturbing.”

By convincing some of her co-workers that he was an old friend, Bertolini obtained phone numbers of some of her family members. Fearing for her safety, the television station hired a bodyguard to protect her at home and work, she said.

“The security and welfare of our employees is always of utmost concern for us,” said Nancy Bauer Gonzales, the station’s news director.

Mack came to Los Angeles in 1995 after a two-year stint at WNBC-TV in New York. She also had worked as a news anchor in Jackson, Miss.