Student stalked Title IX administrator at Fresno State — then it got worse, affidavit alleges

The man appeared in the office of a Title IX official at Fresno State, as he would a number of times over the next month — unannounced, again, and seemingly out of nowhere.

He was a student. A stalking complaint had been filed against him on behalf of a female student, and there had been a meeting between the official and the man. That’s where their paths first crossed, back in February. The meeting didn’t take long. There was explanation and instruction: His behaviors toward the female student qualified as stalking, and he was on notice to cease contact with her.

The next day, there he was, unannounced, in the official’s office.

He said he was having thoughts of harming himself and of harming others, according to an affidavit filed in June with a request for a restraining order in Fresno County Superior Court. He pulled a paper bag from McDonald’s out of his backpack. It had two eye holes cut into it, and he pulled it over his head, wearing it as a mask. He said that he wanted to show the official what he was capable of doing.

Then, he pulled out a pocket knife.

The affidavit further alleges that the official picked up a phone off the desk and typed a text message to Title IX coordinator Jamie Pontius-Hogan.

“Help.”

But nobody called campus police, according to the affidavit. There was no intervention by personnel trained to handle such situations.

The official declined to speak to The Bee for this story, but the 22-page request for a restraining order includes chilling details not only of the stalking, but also of the university’s response to it.

As Fresno State attempts to repair its reputation after the documented mishandling of multiple Title IX and other harassment complaints over the past several years, it appears that how the university deals with on-campus complaints of sexual harassment, stalking, rape and sexual- or gender-based violence remains a significant problem.

The university’s Title IX department, as well as human resources and discrimination, harassment and retaliation (DHR) have come under fire in recent years for mishandling multiple cases. The departments are under vice president for administration Debbie Adishian-Astone.

Vincent Kennedy, a forensic psychiatrist and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Penn State University, said the incident that is described in the affidavit sounded like a police or a psychiatric emergency.

He said it sounded like a situation that would merit intervention by personnel who have specific training and equipment to address people in crisis, as safely as possible.

“That’s a major red flag for a risk of violence to others,” Kennedy said. “Any psychiatrist or anybody with a modicum of common sense would say that, of course.”

The university did not respond to a request for comment about the affidavit and the stalking accusation, citing an on-going external Title IX investigation.

Leave of absence and an on-going investigation

According to the affidavit, Pontius-Hogan advised the official to walk the man to the campus counseling center. The official indicated to Pontius-Hogan that police should be called. But the Title IX director had the official inform the man that if he was not willing to be taken to the counseling center, then campus police would be called.

The student, who said he thought about using the knife to slit his wrists or throat, agreed to go, if the official would be his escort.

According to the affidavit, the official asked him to leave the knife and mask on the office table and ended up walking the student across campus to the counseling center, 10 to 15 minutes away, potentially putting the official in harm’s way.

The Bee is not identifying the Title IX official or student because of the report of stalking and the potential for harassment or violence.

On the way to the counseling center, the student told the official that he had an alter ego that he named “Mrs. Neswitt” after seeing the movie Toy Story, according to the affidavit. He said that he often felt like a shadow of himself and that his alter ego did things that he knew were wrong. The official, according to the affidavit, attempted to distract the man, to keep his mind occupied elsewhere on the walk to the counseling center. The man told the official that he wanted to change his major to criminology because when he was young a neighbor had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted, and that he felt like his alter ego was in control most when he was wearing the hood on his black jacket.

For the official, the incident with the knife was just the first as the student continued stalking behaviors with little-to-no intervention by the university, according to the affidavit. The official eventually took a leave of absence from work to seek treatment and counseling for the substantial emotional distress the stalking caused.

Title IX deputy details stalking

After walking the student to the counseling center and returning to the office, the Title IX official was shaking from the experience.

The knife and mask were still on the desk, and the official threw them into a trash can.

But the man was back later that afternoon.

He walked right by the front desk and into the official’s office. The official was scared — did not move, did not say a word as the man picked through the trash can. He retrieved the mask, but could not find the knife, and then left.

He was back the next day and the day after that. Sometimes, he would appear multiple times in a day.

For the next month he was an unnerving presence, unchecked as he made his way through the Title IX office and to the official’s office or into the hallway outside it.

The initial meeting between the official and the man was Feb. 8, and according to the affidavit, which was signed under the penalty of perjury, he showed up in the Title IX office about 90 minutes after that meeting, twice on Feb. 9, twice on Feb. 10, on Feb. 14, on Feb. 17.

The official took vacation time from Feb. 20 through Feb. 24, and the man appeared in the hallway outside the Title IX office multiple times during that period.

After the official returned, on Feb. 27, he again was in the office and asked why the official had stayed in Fresno rather than going out of town for vacation, indicating to the official that the man had been tracking the official’s movements.

That day, he also allegedly showed the official some drawings that he had done including one that appeared to show someone hanging, as well as blood splatter.

Commenting on the details in the affidavit, Shiwali Patel, director of justice for student survivors and senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, pointed out that Title IX requires workers, not just students, to be protected. .

“When they’re aware of this type of threat that’s happening and the on-going stalking that continued, (the university) should have taken some action and ensured that this deputy felt safe again,” she said. “They should have put in place certain measures to protect (the official) from the stalking and to not just ignore it or let it be.”

Police intervention

The official told Pontius-Hogan that meeting with the man wasn’t a good idea. Her response: Reiterate the boundaries that the two had set, that meetings were for Title IX purposes only, and an appointment would be required, according to the affidavit.

He again showed up on March 7, unannounced and without an appointment.

On March 10, he was seated in the hallway outside the official’s office. The official asked him what he was doing, and noticed a photo of the official on his phone. Feeling afraid, the official ran into a break room closet and locked the door. The man followed, and tried to open the door.

As the Title IX official was sending another text message for assistance, Pontius-Hogan approached and addressed the man. He ignored her, and continued to try to open the door. Pontius-Hogan told the man that the official was unavailable, that he needed an appointment. No response. He did not leave until Pontius-Hogan said she would call campus police, but he wasn’t gone long.

Pontius-Hogan sent the official a text message to stay in the locked room to make sure the man had actually left. When Pontius-Hogan went back five minutes later to check, the man was there, trying to get through the door.

Campus police were called, and he fled.

Pontius-Hogan instructed the official to send the man an email, stating that their Title IX business was concluded and to contact Erin Boele, the athletics Title IX deputy, if he needed to contact the university’s Title IX office.

The police told the official that there was not enough for a criminal stalking charge, but said that the man’s conduct met the Clery Act definition of stalking and that the official could file a Title IX complaint against the man.

The official did. That investigation remains open, a university spokesperson said.

But he was back that very same day, wanting to make an appointment to meet with the official. Campus police officers tracked him down, and he was placed on a 72-hour psychiatric hold after indicating that he wanted to harm himself or others, according to the affidavit.

Assigned to work in the office, alone

After more than one month, several incidents and one police report, the official on March 15 was scheduled to cover the office alone.

The official told Pontius-Hogan that being in the office alone didn’t feel safe, given the incidents involving the man but the official was told it was a necessary part of the job, according to the affidavit.

“One of the most basic things a workplace can do to reduce a risk of violence would be of course not to have somebody alone at the workplace,” said Kennedy, the forensic psychiatrist, whose areas of interest include management of serious mental illness.

When the Title IX office was closed for lunch, a man the official believed to be the stalker was seen standing at the office door. The official ran out of the building and called Pontius-Hogan.

Her response, according to the affidavit, was to “take a walk.” The official also called campus police and filed a second report. The official ran to a building across campus to meet a campus police officer.

A campus-wide no-contact directive was put into place, prohibiting the man from contacting the official as an employee.

Since then, there has been no direct contact between the official and the man.

But the official said in the court filing that indirect contact is maybe still occurring. The man is aware of the make and model of the official’s car and license plate number and may be aware of the home address and believes the man was looking around the apartment complex. The official is afraid to open windows or leave due to a fear that he may be lurking with intent to harm, according to the affidavit.

The restraining order was granted on Aug. 7. For a period of five years, the alleged stalker is prohibited from contacting the official in person, by telephone, in writing through public, private, interoffice or electronic mail or text message; he must not harass, intimidate, molest, attack, strike, threaten, assault or abuse the official, must not destroy personal property or disturb their peace; and must not take any action or obtain their address or location. He must also stay at least 100 yards from the official, their home, vehicle and the Title IX office in the university student union.

The Title IX official remains on leave.