Mother stops daughter's abduction with rifle

Excerpted from full story that originally ran here as:
DISORDER IN COURT: STALKER PROPOSES -- IN COURT

Wednesday, April 18, 2001
By STEPHANIE THOMSON, Columbian staff writer

Vancouver, Washington -- A man who admitted pursuing his ex-girlfriend for two decades, and who was on trial for trying to kidnap her, proposed to the woman as she sat on the witness stand Tuesday.

[snip]

Superior Court Judge Edwin Poyfair later convicted Flora of burglary and attempted kidnapping.

"You're the worst kind of stalker," rasped the judge, his normally thundering voice weakened by a cold. "You're the kind that doesn't understand when you're not wanted. Mr. Flora, you are a danger."

[snip]

During the two-day trial, Flora, 46, admitted that he has spied on the woman, followed her home from work and gone through her trash. He dated the woman for eight months in 1976 and '77.

A sniffling Flora told the judge he only had "romantic motivation" when he broke into the woman's Ridgefield home Aug. 27 and Sept. 2, and tried to abduct her on Sept. 2. He left both times at the order of the woman's mother, who owns the home as well as a .22-caliber rifle, which she used to scare off Flora the second time.

Flora said he had hoped to win the woman's love with a "magic kiss."

"It's all garbage now," he said, dejected.

Poyfair convicted Flora on two counts of burglary and one count of attempted kidnapping. He acquitted him on a charge of indecent liberties, saying he was not convinced Flora attacked the woman for sexual gratification.

Flora will be sentenced May 22. He likely will serve between six and eight years in prison. He told Poyfair he plans to serve his sentence, then move to Florida, where he was born.

KABA NOTE: To get a good glimpse of how far stalking an estranged lover can go, read the full story here. If this woman's mother hadn't had a rifle, there is no telling what would have happened.

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