12/10/13 - After he allegedly executed a complex plan to get close to his stalking victim, a Howell man has entered a plea to charges. 24-year-old Jesse Clayton Bartsch was bound over to circuit court last month and immediately pleaded guilty to aggravated stalking and impersonating a police officer over the summer. A count of perjury was dismissed, and court records indicate that if he successfully completes 18 months of probation the counts against him will be reduced to misdemeanors. According to police, Bartsch used the name of a real Livingston County Sheriffâs detective to set up an email account and befriend a woman he had been stalking. The woman had filed a personal protection order against him, but Bartsch allegedly got the order dropped by changing the documents she received from the court and keeping her from being notified. Investigators say Bartsch used the persona of the Sheriffâs Department detective to get close to the woman, even sending her a nude photograph of another man, while saying things to encourage her to reach out to Bartsch in real life. The woman eventually showed evidence of the relationship to her attorney, who knew the detective in question and was able to identify the account as fake. Bartsch was charged soon after. He will be sentenced on January 2nd. (TD)
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