Cyber Stalker Sentenced to Jail, Probation

A former Las Vegas topless dancer who admitted stalking her ex-lover by posting sexually explicit photos of the married man on the Internet was placed on five years’ probation Thursday and ordered to serve 210 days in the Ventura County Jail.

Robin Kelly, a 43-year-old Simi Valley resident who performed under the name “Ruby Tuesday,” has served most of the jail sentence and is expected to be released in about two weeks.

Kelly pleaded guilty last month to felony stalking, attempted extortion and a misdemeanor count of witness intimidation for harassing her former lover after he ended their seven-year affair in April 2000.

In a letter to the sentencing judge, Kelly described herself as a single mother struggling to make ends meet. She apologized for her conduct but added, “I did not know my actions would be deemed criminal.”

Her cyber-stalking case is believed to be the first of its kind in Ventura County because electronic communications have only recently been added to California stalking laws.

“This case is really sort of an example of an old crime committed in a new way,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Temple of the district attorney’s computer crime unit.

Kelly met Jim Day, a 52-year-old editorial cartoonist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, at a nightclub where she worked, and the two began a sexual relationship.

When Day attempted to break off the affair, Kelly began to harass the man and his family, according to police. For months, she made annoying phone calls and sent threatening letters and e-mail to his home and office.

She allegedly left white envelopes containing sexually explicit photos of him scattered around his neighborhood.

According to prosecutors, she later set up a Web site that featured photographs of their sexual trysts as well as a map with directions to Day’s Las Vegas home. Postcards advertising the site were mailed to Day’s family, neighbors and co-workers.

Kelly was arrested in November and the Web site was taken down by court order.

Kelly told authorities that her actions came out of heartbreak and confusion. She repeatedly stated that she only wanted an apology from Day and never intended to harm him or his family.

But in a letter to the judge, Day recounted the harassment and humiliation he and his family endured for more than a year.

“Harm was intended. Harm was planned. Harm was done,” he wrote. “The thing I seek, the thing I believe must be done, is that I and my family be left alone.”

Day went on to describe his fear of Kelly. “I too will pay a penalty beyond the consequences of my infidelity. I have been sentenced to a term of looking over my shoulder, watching my back,” he wrote.

Kelly, who once performed as a professional wrestler, sat passively during most of her sentencing hearing Thursday but became animated when the prosecutor requested that she be prohibited from using a computer or the Internet while on probation.

Superior Court Judge Bruce Clark ordered the computer and Internet ban, though he said he might reconsider at a later date. Kelly is also prohibited from contacting Day or his family.