Landlord accused of stalking tenant left her 175 voicemails, Georgia police say
A woman was forced to block her landlord on her phone after he left her about 175 voicemails in a two-month romantic pursuit, Georgia police say.
The landlord, 64, was arrested on a stalking charge after authorities said he repeatedly tried contacting the woman “with the intent to harass her,” according to an arrest affidavit obtained by McClatchy News.
The 33-year-old tenant called police on March 4 and accused her landlord of intentionally locking the meter to her Floyd County home, leaving her without water for a week, per a police incident report.
She also accused him of stalking her to the point that she blocked him on Feb. 27, police said.
The woman told police he “would watch her residence from his property” and once followed her best friend who was visiting because he “thought it might have been a male,” according to the incident report.
Police also looked at the woman’s phone and saw he left her about 175 voicemails between Jan. 1 and Feb. 27, authorities said. On the day she blocked him, he left the woman 21 voicemails, according to police.
“I listened to some of the voicemails ... and it was apparent that (he) was pursuing a relationship” with the tenant, an officer wrote in the report.
The woman told police she and the landlord were never romantically involved and that she only “loved and cared for him as a friend,” authorities said.
Police, meanwhile, said the water department told them the water was cut off because the bill hadn’t been paid. The tenant told them the lock on the meter belonged to the landlord and not the water company.
McClatchy News reached out to police on March 8 for clarification but did not receive a response.
A warrant for the man’s arrest was issued March 4, though it’s unclear when he was taken into custody.
Rome is about a 70-mile drive northwest from downtown Atlanta.