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Mental health evaluation ordered for woman charged with stalking CO

Victoria Lynn Stover was ordered Wednesday to undergo a mental health evaluation through Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake

By Kristin M. Kraemer
Tri-City Herald

KENNEWICK, Wash. — A 48-year-old woman is accused of harassing a Benton County corrections officer for at least nine months by making sexual statements about him during repeat phone calls to the jail and mailing him a lengthy letter.

Victoria Lynn Stover was ordered Wednesday to undergo a mental health evaluation through Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake.

She is charged in Benton County Superior Court with one felony count of stalking. She’s been released on bail.

Stover was charged in 2013 with harassing a male corrections officer starting in 2012 but it’s not known where Stover was until her arrest last week.

According to court documents, the officer received in November 2012 a 12-page letter signed by Stover, a former inmate. The mail was addressed to the officer at the Benton County jail in Kennewick.

In the letter, Stover accused the officer of calling her derogatory names in front of her husband while she was incarcerated and other sexual allegations.

Stover called the jail looking for the officer at least 12 times between September 2012 and May 2013, court documents said. Jail staff who answered the phone recognized Stover by her voice and her Seattle-area phone number, documents said.

Stover allegedly would ask for the officer and make sexual statements about him. She also claimed the officer was harassing her and that she had seen him around town.

The officer claimed Stover “appears to be delusional and has called him and sent him letters for several years,” court documents said. He said the contact is unwelcome and he’d gotten a protection order against Stover but it expired after one year.

The officer said he’s aware of Stover’s criminal history and is fearful she may attempt to contact him in person and harm him, and he’s concerned she believes they are in a relationship together, documents said.

On Wednesday, Judge Alex Ekstrom ordered Stover to have no contact with the officer while her case is pending.

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