In 2019, John R. Anderson III, 42 (above) was sentenced to six years in prison for aggravated stalking in DeKalb County (Illinois). Now he’s being charged with stalking again in a new case, as he faces 11 counts of stalking, harassing and violating an order of protection. Anderson has pleaded not guilty, which is his Constitutional right. Of course he’s innocent until proven guilty, and he and his lawyer cannot be called unethical for wanting to make the prosecution prove the case against him beyond a reasonable doubt.
Nonetheless, this appears to be one of those cases where the not guilty plea itself is likely to destroy any credibility the defendant might have. You see, Anderson allowed himself to star in a 2022 episode of “I Am a Stalker.” Not only that, but the woman he admitted to stalking in that episode is the same woman he is accused of stalking in the current case.
According to court records, his re-stalking occurred last December and January of this year. First he violated a 2024 order of protection and “harassed” the woman by placing messages and content on her cellphone, writing a letter to her, texting her and making repeated calls to her using different phone numbers and apps to hide his contact information. He also is accused of surveilling her residence by parking in front of her home and her place of employment, “repeatedly calling and texting her,” and placing cupcakes on her vehicle.
Oooh, “cupcake stalking” sounds especially creepy.
Authorities say that Anderson gained access to her car, placed a GPS tracking device in it, and gained access to her Amazon Alexa device. This guy is good. He sure sounds like an especially experienced and professional stalker; this is probably why Netflix sought him out for its series, which my sock drawer crisis sadly preventing me from watching.
My pro tip would be that any time one’s plea is likely to cause the jury to roll their eyes so hard their eyeballs cramp, cutting a plea deal with the prosecutor is the wiser and, yes, the more ethical course.
Ethics Alarms 
Meg Jones (Mary Kay Place in The Big Chill) describing those she represented as a public defender:
“I just didn’t think they’d be……so guilty.”
PWS
Speaking of stalking…
I was on the jury of a criminal stalking case in south central Wisconsin in 2024. This particular case is one where I think it wouldn’t be out of bounds to say that it was unethical to plead not-guilty, you’ll understand more after you read this August 2024 essay.
Progressive’s Cancel Culture Is Guilty Of Corrupting Minds
Excerpt…
I can say with clarity and personal experience that stalkers have proven to me that they are genuine pieces of crap.
I just read it. I hope that lady got a nice long jail sentence. I normally don’t like plea deals as first resort because they can be used as a cudgel by unethical prosecutors, but in cases like yours and what we’re seeing here, I would expect any defense attorney to tell their client: “Let me be straight with you, we are not going to win this, and trying will only make you look worse. The best you can do is plead guilty, say you’re sorry, and throw yourself on the court’s mercy.”
She was sentenced in January 2025 to serve 4 years, 2 years initial confinement, 2 years extended supervision, and has to pay almost $23,000 in restitution. She was credited 151 days for time she spent in the county jail that applied to her sentence at Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Fond du Lac, WI.
There are a stack of conditions that she must meet after release; there multiple no contact restrictions, very strict limitations for cell phone and social media, can’t show up at any day care or schools of any schools unless it’s directly related to one of her two children, must comply with recommended mental health treatments, cannot use or possess controlled substances without a valid prescription.
Personally I think she got off easy, but at least she was locked away for a while.
After knowing what I know about the repetitive patterns exhibited by this very manipulative and very vindictive woman; I think it’s reasonably fair to predict that she will violate the conditions of her release and/or break the law likely with physical violence next time, and end up back in prison within 5 years of her release.
Just trying to untangle the timeline based on the post is a bit of an uphill battle.
Let’s see if I have this correct:
1) He was convicted of stalking Victim Alpha in 2019 and sentenced to 6-years.
2) He was released pretty early, probably something to do with 2020 COVID.
3) He started stalking Victim Beta and bragged about it on a TV which aired in 2022.
4) Beta had legal proceedings resulting in a protection order in early 2024.
5) He re-stalked Beta in Dec’24/Jan’25 for which he is now on trial for 11 counts.
I don’t know where those 11 counts stem from – are they all the Dec-Jan period? Do they cover the period since his release that formed the basis of the 2024 protection order? There’s a lot going on here.
As I read it, they are all from the December-January period, but you’re right, it’s unclear.
Nevermind – I was able to finally get the source link up. It’s all the same woman from before 2019, through his prison time in 2022, up until recently. She was his girlfriend at one time and they share a child together. The 11 counts all stem from the most recent period and he’s remanded to custody given the threat to her cannot be mitigated as he even violated protection orders while serving his prior sentence by writing letters to her.