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An Indiana man originally accused of stalking a woman who repeatedly rejected his advances while he was in Marshalltown on a work trip earlier this year has agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of third degree harassment, a simple misdemeanor, according to court records.
Attorney Joel Waters filed a written plea of guilty on behalf of Scott James Beckmann, 28, on Wednesday, and it says the defense and prosecution are jointly recommending a deferred judgment with one year of unsupervised probation, the imposition of a $105 civil penalty and court costs, as well as an extension of the no contact order with the victim for five years.
Judge Kathryn Austin accepted the guilty plea the same day, and sentencing has been set for Nov. 4.
According to the original criminal complaint, the victim reported that Beckmann had come into a restaurant she worked at when the “staring, smiling and unwanted attention” started. As the month went on, Beckmann began to show up at the victim’s other place of employment as well as each restaurant where she was employed whenever she was working.
“The defendant kept asking for the victim's phone number, which she refused (to give him), and then started adding the victim on all her social media accounts. The defendant was sending the victim messages on her social media telling her she was ‘missing out’ and showed a picture of a bunch of money,” the complaint reads.
Witnesses later told the victim that they observed Beckmann, in his vehicle, outside the restaurants, and he would be gone when she left from work. On June 9, the victim reported that he had driven by her house.
“The victim stated she is constantly in fear that the defendant is following her, knows her work schedules and now where she lives,” the complaint read.