Newington Man Charged with Stalking, Criminal Threatening

Portsmouth Police earlier this week arrested a man after he allegedly was caught stalking a local woman.

Gary Johnson, previously known as Gary Michaels, 60, of Fox Point Road in Newington, was arrested on Jan. 12, and charged with stalking and criminal threatening.

According to police, a woman recently reported that she found “a device” attached to her vehicle.

A Portsmouth detective began investigating the case and was able to detect that it was a GPS locating mechanism. The detective was later allegedly able to connect the device to Johnson. Police requested a search warrant of Johnson’s residence “where further evidence was located tracking the victim’s whereabouts,” according to Lt. Mark Newport of the Portsmouth Police Department.

“The stalking charge is a result of Johnson’s course of conduct against the victim culminated by being responsible for the placing of an object, the object being a GPS on the victim’s property,” Newport said in a statement. “The criminal threatening charge is a result of Johnson placing an object on the property of another with the purpose to terrorize any person. In this instance ‘terrorize’ means to cause alarm, fright, or dread: the state of mind induced by the apprehension of hurt from some hostile or threatening event or manifestation.”

Johnson was released on bail and is due in court on March 2.

Police are asking anyone who might have information about this case to reach out to Detective Timothy McCain at 603-610-7513.

According to SeascoastOnline.com, Johnson was arrested in March 2013 for stealing hair dye while he was supposed to be out on good behavior after previously stealing hair dye.

Editor’s note: The following post was derived from information supplied by the Portsmouth Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction. Click this link to find out how to get a name removed from a New Hampshire Patch arrest report.