A former
'Mother of the Year' who admitted to terrorizing a couple after they
outbid her for her dream home has been ordered to keep away from them
for 10 years.
Kathy
J. Rowe, 53, expressed her regret as she was sentenced in San Diego,
California on Friday, where she was also handed down a year
of electronic surveillance and five years of probation.
Court
records document how Rowe tormented Jerry Rice, 40, and Janice Ruhter,
37, for months after they moved into the home in the upscale
neighborhood of Carmel Valley in 2011.
Soon
after the move, they noticed their home was mysteriously listed for
sale online. Their mail stopped over Christmas and they were inundated
with more than $1,000 worth of magazines and books they had not
ordered, People reported.
Heading home: Kathy Rowe, 53, smiles
after she is sentenced to five years probation in court on Friday for
terrorizing a couple who outbid her for her 'dream home' in San Diego,
California in 2011
Then
on Valentine's Day, a neighbor confronted Rice demanding to know why he
had sent a card to his wife. Eight other wives in the neighborhood also
received similar cards.
But
most shocking was when Rice typed his wife's name into an internet
search engine and discovered that there were ads inviting men to their
home for a 'Carmel Valley Freak Show'.
Rowe,
pretending to be the couple, had advertised for men to visit the home
and force themselves upon Ruhter, claiming it was her fantasy to be
raped.
The wife's photo and address were included in the postings, which were made sometime between October 2011 and June 2012.
'I
love to be surprised and have a man just show up at my door and force
his way in the door and on me, totally taking me while I say no,' Rowe
wrote to one man who responded, according to reports.
One
man decided to follow up on the offer, but was thwarted once by a
locked gate and a second time when the husband answered the door.
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'Dream home': Rowe, who had been named as one of the city's top moms in
2007, said it was devastating when she lost the home, pictured due to a
miscommunication with real estate agents in 2011 |
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Fears: Victim Jerry Rice, right, told the court he believes that if
police had not got involved and caught Rowe, she would have carried on
until harm came to a member of his family
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Cruel: Rowe had pretended to be new homeowner Janice Ruhter, pictured
giving an impact statement to the court on Friday, when she advertised
for men to go to the house for sex
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'Regrets': Rowe, pictured with her attorney Brad Patton, said she never intended to cause any harm
After the
posts emerged, Rowe, a county administrative analyst who was named as a
San Diego 'Mother of the Year' in 2007 for how she cared for her
disabled daughter, was charged with solicitation of rape and stalking
charges.
The prosecutor said the charges were filed because Rowe's actions went far beyond a prank.
In
December, Rowe entered a plea bargain over the stalking charges, in
exchange for prosecutors to drop felony charges of soliciting rape and
sodomy and misdemeanor charges of identity theft and harassment.
Conviction of soliciting rape would have required Rowe to register for life as a sex offender.
In court on Friday, Rowe apologized to the couple for what she had put them through.
'I
just wanted to say how humiliated I am by my behavior – that this is
not representative of who I am. I've never behaved like this – never
will again,' she said.
She
said she acted due to the stress she was under and never intended to
cause the couple any harm - but in court, the couple said they felt
terrorized.
'The home
should be a place of safety and sanctuary,' Ruhter said. 'But I never
truly felt this way in our house. I felt most secure away from my home.
The house became my prison.'
Rice
added: 'Had law enforcement not intervened in this case, I am certain
Mrs. Rowe would have continued her attacks until she successfully
brought physical harm to a member of my family.'
In
a letter to a judge last year, Rowe explained it had been 'devastating'
when she lost the house due to mis-communication with real estate
agents, and a more attractive bid from the other couple.
She
had her heart set on the home because it was a single story, to
accommodate her severely disabled daughter, and had a pool, to provide
exercise for her husband following a heart attack.
'The
anger and grief over losing that house (and especially in the way we
did) drove me to behave in a very childish way and to do what I thought
were childish pranks to let off steam and ease the pain,' Rowe said. 'I
never intended for them to be hurtful.'
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