Sheriff's deputy charged with stalking exMinneapolis Star Tribune, MN
Paul Walsh & Abby Simons
August 8, 2008
Sheriff Kevin Studnicka said A Scott County sheriff's deputy was jailed Friday on charges that he stalked his ex-girlfriend for more than a year and used his position to get information on the woman and several of her acquaintances from non-public databases. John P. [Philip] Grover, 54, of Edina, was charged in Hennepin County with felony stalking. He is being held on $30,000 bail and awaits an Aug. 18 court date. The criminal complaint also reported he used the data base 32 times in 2007 and 2008 to pull up information on his ex-girlfriend and three of her acquaintances. Beginning in July 2007, the complaint charges, Grover would show up unannounced at a host of locations -- including fast-food restaurants, an art fair and a fitness club parking lot -- trying to restart the relationship or confronting the woman and whomever she was with at the time. Scott CountyGrover, an 18-year veteran of the sheriff's department, was on paid administrative leave. He called the incident "a black eye for law enforcement." Grover had no previous serious indiscretions on his record, Studnicka said. [Link]
Deputy John Grover
ReplyDeletejgrover@co.scott.mn.us
Captain Greg Muelken
952-496-8318
gmuelken@co.scott.mn.us
Sgt. Duane Jirik
952-496-8725
djirik@co.scott.mn.us
Sheriff's deputy charged with stalking ex
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Last update: August 8, 2008 - 11:50 PM
A Scott County sheriff's deputy was jailed Friday on charges that he stalked his ex-girlfriend for more than a year and used his position to get information on the woman and several of her acquaintances from non-public databases.
John P. Grover, 54, of Edina, was charged in Hennepin County with felony stalking. He is being held on $30,000 bail and awaits an Aug. 18 court date.
The criminal complaint also reported he used the data base 32 times in 2007 and 2008 to pull up information on his ex-girlfriend and three of her acquaintances.
Beginning in July 2007, the complaint charges, Grover would show up unannounced at a host of locations -- including fast-food restaurants, an art fair and a fitness club parking lot -- trying to restart the relationship or confronting the woman and whomever she was with at the time.
Scott County Sheriff Kevin Studnicka said Grover, an 18-year veteran of the sheriff's department, was on paid administrative leave. He called the incident "a black eye for law enforcement."
Grover had no previous serious indiscretions on his record, Studnicka said.
PAUL WALSH AND Abby Simons
http://www.startribune.com/26426984.html
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Minn. deputy charged with stalking
Associated Press, Worthington Daily Globe
Published Saturday, August 09, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) - A Scott County deputy is in jail on charges that he stalked his ex-girlfriend for the last year.
The criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County says John Philip Grover used his law enforcement position to access non-public databases and get information about his ex-girlfriend, friends and other men she was dating.
According to the complaint, the target of the stalking told investigators that Grover had minimal contact with her for over a year after they broke up in May 2006. But she alleges that starting in 2007, he began pestering her in various public places — often when she was on dates.
Grover has been charged with a felony county of stalking. Scott County Sheriff Kevin Studnicka did not immediately return a call Friday seeking information on Grover's status with the department.
http://www.dglobe.com/articles/index.cfm?id=13706§ion=news
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Deputy accused of stalking ex-girlfriend
Pioneer Press
By David Hanners
dhanners@pioneerpress.com
Article Last Updated: 08/08/2008 09:39:43 PM CDT
A Scott County sheriff's deputy spent a year stalking a former girlfriend and used law enforcement databases to dig up information on her and the men she was dating, Hennepin County prosecutors alleged Friday.
The alleged stalking campaign escalated until the woman "felt terrorized," according to court papers.
John Philip Grover, 54, of Edina, was charged with a single felony count of stalking. He was being held in the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center on $30,000 bail.
Scott County Sheriff Kevin Studnicka did not immediately return a call for comment.
Grover went to work as a deputy in January 1990. The sheriff's office Web site lists him as a court bailiff.
The criminal complaint alleges that between January 2007 and July 31, Grover entered the woman's name into nonpublic databases used by the sheriff's office 32 times. He also allegedly used the databases to look up information about men she was dating.
Bloomington police investigated the case, and charges were filed in Hennepin County because several incidents alleged in the criminal complaint reportedly occurred in Minneapolis and elsewhere in the county.
The complaint alleges nine confrontations between Grover and the former girlfriend — identified only as "M.B." in court papers — between last September and July 30. The complaint says that the two dated until May 2006 and that they had had "very minimal contact" for about a year, according to an affidavit summarizing
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Bloomington police detective Kim Jones-O'Brien's investigation.
Grover attempted to rekindle the relationship with the woman in July 2007, but she told him "that she never wanted to see (him) again and to stay away from her," Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Julie E. Allyn wrote in the affidavit.
Grover kept sending her e-mails after that, despite the woman's pleas that he stop, Allyn wrote.
Things stepped up in September 2007, the complaint alleges, when Grover "came out of nowhere" at a Minneapolis club to confront M.B. and introduce himself to her then-boyfriend.
That was followed by an alleged incident in October, when Grover appeared at a McDonald's where the woman was having breakfast, and again in January at the same McDonald's. The woman told police she saw Grover sitting in his car, so she left and went to a Burger King. Grover allegedly followed her and approached her in the restaurant.
"M.B. was very upset and yelled for defendant to leave," Allyn wrote.
In February, there were allegedly two confrontations in one night. The woman was on a date in a restaurant when Grover approached her and tried to talk to the woman and her companion. Upset, the woman and the man left the restaurant and went to a "music café," but Grover reportedly followed them there, too, and confronted them again.
The incidents continued in June at an art fair and the woman's fitness club, and in July at a restaurant in Bloomington and the fitness club.
"Finally, on July 30, 2008, while M.B. was walking through the parking lot of her fitness club, M.B. noticed a man staring at her from a car she did not recognize and the man was trying to disguise himself," Allyn wrote in the complaint. "M.B. confronted this man and saw that it was in fact (Grover). M.B. felt terrorized that defendant was taking the steps to disguise himself and his car in order to follow and harass her."
Police said the people with the woman when Grover allegedly approached corroborated her version of the events.
David Hanners can be reached at 612-338-6516.
http://www.twincities.com/crime/ci_10144558
Former county deputy guilty of stalking his ex-girlfriend
ReplyDeleteShakopee Valley News
December 16, 2009
By Shannon Fiecke, Staff Writer
A Hennepin County jury has found former Scott County deputy John P. Grover guilty of stalking his ex-girlfriend.
After a trial lasting a week and a half, the jury convicted the 55-year-old Edina man of gross-misdemeanor stalking on Dec. 9, said Hennepin County Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Rhonda Kinchlow. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 2.
Kinchlow said a felony charge of stalking was thrown out because it didn’t meet the felony-level criteria of a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Grover, an 18-year veteran of the Scott County Sheriff's Office, had most recently worked as a court bailiff. He resigned in September after being accused of systematically stalking his ex-girlfriend, using department resources to gather information on the woman and her acquaintances.
Bloomington police began investigating the stalking complaint in August. Grover was immediately placed on paid administrative leave in Scott County.
According to the criminal complaint, Grover's dating relationship with the woman ended in May 2006. The two had minimal contact until July 2007, when Grover allegedly tried to rekindle the relationship and the woman told him she never wanted to see him again.
He was accused of spontaneously showing up at least 10 times to restaurants and other places to confront the woman and whomever she was with.
He allegedly ran the Bloomington woman's name 32 times through a Minnesota driver and vehicle database from January 2007 through July 2008, and performed checks multiple times on three of her acquaintances.
Shannon Fiecke can be reached at (952) 345-6679 or sfiecke@swpub.com.
Former deputy sentenced in stalking case
ReplyDeleteStar Tribune
February 5, 2010
A former Scott County deputy convicted of stalking an ex-girlfriend was sentenced to three months in the workhouse.
John Philip Grover, 55, was sentenced Feb. 2 to one year in the Hennepin County workhouse with all but 90 days suspended. The sentence follows Grover's December 2009 conviction for gross misdemeanor stalking for using law-enforcement databases to look up information on an ex-girlfriend.
Grover was placed on paid administrative leave after charges were filed. He later resigned.