New Lenox Police Bring 2nd Stalking Charge Against Barah Ghouleh

NEW LENOX, IL - For the second time since June, the New Lenox Police Department has charged the same 27-year-old Chicago Ridge woman with unlawful violation of a stalking no-contact order. The latest charge against Barah Ghouleh was filed on December 5. Ghouleh has another pending case investigated by New Police that resulted in criminal charges being filed around June 7. Last week, Assistant Will County State's Attorney Nicholas Plattos filed a motion asking the court to impose a higher bond for Ghouleh.

On Thursday, authorities booked Ghouleh into the Will County Jail at 11:30 a.m. and she was released from custody around 7 p.m.

"The Defendant posted on a $7,500 bond 10 percent bond August 1, 2017," the prosecutor notified the court last week. "On December 5, 2017, the Defendant was charged with one count of unlawful violation of a stalking no contact order ... A complaint warrant was issued ... in the amount of $3,000 10 percent on December 5, 2017."

The woman being victimized now lives in Oak Lawn, but she used to reside in New Lenox. She was granted a protection order against Ghouleh in 2016 from Will County Judge Jessica Colon-Sayre that is supposed to remain in effect until December 2018.

But that still has not stopped the 27-year-old woman from Chicago Ridge from continuing to pester and target the former New Lenox resident, last week's criminal complaint states.

On November 10, "said defendant, having been served with or having acquired actual knowledge of a Stalking No-Contact Order ... issued by the Circuit Court of Will County on December 13, 2016, did knowingly commit an act which was prohibited ... in that said defendant called the cellular phone of (the victim) and left voicemails, insulting (her) and using vulgarities," the December 5 criminal complaint states.

The woman who obtained the stalking order against Ghouleh - whose first name is spelled three different ways in court records - maintains she has been tormented by the defendant for at least five years.

"It was the early part of October 2016, Baraah called me off of Facebook using a fake name. I could see her on the App. She called me over 200 times in one day. She said my kids suck (expletive). She sent me pictures of her masterbating (sic). She threatened me that she was not going to miss throwing a glass cup at my head. She was moaning in a sexual way saying my son is retarded," she wrote the judge.

The former New Lenox resident feared it's only a matter of time before Ghouleh harms her. Ghouleh resides in the 10400 block of Chicago Ridge's Nashville Avenue.

"I am afraid of Baraah," the woman wrote. "She has harassed me for five years and will not leave me alone. I fear for my safety and the safety of my children."

Mugshot via Will County Sheriff's Department