GOSHEN — An Elkhart woman who admitted to stalking a former co-worker has received a five-year sentence.
Sarah Sanders, 30, was sentenced on Thursday to three years on probation and two years in a community corrections program after pleading guilty to stalking as a Level 5 felony. She was arrested in September after the victim told police that Sanders had violated a protective order multiple times, with obsessive behavior such as calling her phone up to 80 times a day.
The victim told police that the behavior had recently escalated after Sanders, a co-worker from 10 years earlier, used to reach out to talk with her once a year. She said she thought Sanders was “a little weird” but she decided to be nice to her, according to police.
The harassment reached the point that the victim felt like she had to look over her shoulder when she was out in public. She said she was nervous whenever she left the house because Sanders had followed her car all over town.
The woman said the extent of harassment had prompted her to consider selling her house and moving, but she didn’t want to uproot her life because of Sanders.
“The victim in this case is not vindictive, she simply wants this woman to leave her alone,” Elkhart County Deputy Prosecutor Don Pitzer said in court Thursday. “We are no longer dealing with misdemeanors and a slap on the wrist. Her actions have landed her squarely on the radar of the court.”
Sanders was arrested on Sept. 21 after police responded to a harassment report and learned that she had committed invasion of privacy against the victim seven times between June and August. A protective order had been issued in May followed by a no-contact order in July.
The victim told police that Sanders had driven to her house and taken photos on Sept. 20. She said the photos were forwarded from another acquaintance whom Sanders had also started harassing, and she believed it was Sanders who took the photos based on a location app showing Sanders near her home.
Pitzer said Sanders worked as a delivery app driver and would have other people call in orders using the victim’s address so she could go to the area. He warned Sanders that they would seek prison time if she violated the no-contact order again.
Judge Michael Christofeno gave her similar warnings. Sanders said she understood and was grateful for the chance to change her behavior.
“If this happens again, the state will pursue charges,” Pitzer said. “If there’s a violation she might as well, as far as the state is concerned, pack her toothbrush because she’s going to prison.”