Lancaster Probation Officer Arrested in Stalking, Threatening of Ex-Girlfriend

A Lancaster probation officer was arrested Monday on suspicion of threatening, stalking and filing a false crime report against a woman he once dated, according to the district attorney’s office.

Gordon Wilbur Griffith Jr., 55, was booked on 10 felony and four misdemeanor counts after sheriff’s deputies arrested him at his home, said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

Griffith, a night supervisor for six youth camps run by the Los Angeles County Probation Department, has been on paid leave since the Sheriff’s Department began investigating him a few months ago, Chief Probation Officer Richard Shumsky said.

According to a felony complaint filed by the district attorney’s office, Griffith repeatedly followed and harassed the woman after she ended their relationship. It was not known how long they had dated.

“She tried to break it off and he wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Gibbons said.

The probation officer allegedly made annoying phone calls and tried to extort money from the woman and her mother, the complaint contends. Griffith also is accused of threatening the woman and violating a restraining order that was filed against him.

In addition, Griffith faces misdemeanor charges of filing a false crime report against her with the Sheriff’s Department, county social and children’s workers, and the U.S. Postal Service, Gibbons said. The false crime report had to do with the woman’s child, said Gibbons, who offered no other details.

The woman’s identity is being withheld.

Griffith is being held in Twin Towers Jail downtown in lieu of $950,000 bail, Sheriff’s Lt. Gordon Carn said. Griffith’s arraignment is set for today in Lancaster Superior Court.

If convicted on all charges, Griffith could be sentenced to a maximum of about eight years in state prison, Gibbons said.

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Times staff writer Richard Fausset contributed to this report.