It began with an e-mail then turned into terror

By BRIDGET CARTER AND NZPA

It began as any internet friendship.

A writer from the other side of the world emailing another Down Under to say how she admired the other's work.

But, as the e-mails began to get weird, strange telephone calls were made and every avenue of her life began to be invaded, New Plymouth author Rhonda Bartle discovered her admirer was in fact a cyber-terrorist stalking her from the United States.

Bartle, the winner of the Katherine Mansfield Award, said the woman might have been 84, but she was sophisticated and cunning in the cyberstalking game.

Her name was Peggy Phillips. She was also known as Peg Bucci and was previously a Broadway publicist, a soap opera scriptwriter and a self-published author.

"She knew all the moves and was so insidious. I thought if I ignore it it will go away. People said: 'The poor old thing, let her go slowly'."

But when Bartle pulled the plug on their relationship, things got nasty.

She laid a complaint with Californian police about the harassment by Mrs Phillips, who could face $1000 in fines or a year in jail as an alleged cyberstalker under state law.

But her obsessed fan had jumped on a plane bound for New Zealand - and later for Bartle's home.

Bartle told New Plymouth police, who issued a trespass notice against the 84-year-old American.

But Mrs Phillips defied the trespass notice and resumed a terror campaign against the New Plymouth author.

While Mrs Phillips was in New Plymouth, she used a cunning ploy to get a story published in the city's newspaper about how she would use Taranaki as a location for a Hollywood movie of her book Ascent To Hell.

One of her other tricks was taking words out of e-mails Bartle had sent her, sprinkling them with her own "fairy dust" and sending them to other writers.

She even sent presents to the 47-year-old's children.

In one book, written by Mrs Phillips, an over-the-top dedication appeared which Bartle said their relationship did not warrant.

Bartle said that throughout the ordeal, she was completely powerless, because Mrs Phillips was in California. "It is frustrating when people can find these ways of harassing you and there is nothing you can do."

California had put in place anti-stalking laws, but New Zealand had no avenues for stopping it here.

Orange County police said they would review the case to see if there had been a violation of their cyberstalking laws.

Sergeant Mike Tynes said he would pass the complaint to their computer crimes personnel, and would contact Bartle personally for information.

The author said that "in the end you begin to doubt yourself. You think, how did this happen, what did I do wrong?

"It is professionally embarrassing ... I tell people I have been stalked by an 84-year-old and they just smirk."

Bartle said she never knew when or how Mrs Phillips would strike next. "It is like waiting for the bogeyman."

She felt intimidated and humiliated.

"I am a reasonably staunch kind of person and generally try to handle things on my own ... [but] the internet is such a good tool for the creeps out there.

"They can sit in their own chairs and make mischief like little elves."

Police senior legal adviser Hamish Woods said Bartle might be able to seek a restraining order in California, but this could prove expensive.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the ministry was involved in updating the Crimes Amendment Act No 6, which includes hacking offences but does not cover cyberstalking.

"Unwelcome e-mails on a persistent basis are not covered. Cyberstalking is possibly an area that will be looked at in future," the spokesman said.

Responding to an e-mail on Wednesday, Mrs Phillips rejected any suggestion that she was stalking Bartle, and instead accused the New Plymouth woman ofharassing her.