108 Stalking in Las Vegas

Shaun When people think about stalking, they usually picture an anonymous stranger in a dark hoodie, someone lurking in the shadows, someone you don't know. But what happens when the person doing the stalking is a police officer, and the person being stalked is a city attorney whose father is the Clark County D.A..

John This week, we're talking about a stalking case that unfolded right here in Las Vegas, one that involved law enforcement, access to police databases, and a breakup that didn't just turn ugly, but terrifying. What makes this case so important is not just who was involved, but what it shows us about the real dangers of stalking, how power and access can be weaponized, and how often warning signs are minimized until someone gets hurt or worse.

Shaun Hi, and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I'm your host, Sean.

John And I'm your co-host, John.

Shaun January is Stalking Awareness Month, and this week we want to focus on this problem that affects one in three women and one in six men. When we talk about stalking, it's important to understand what that means legally. It's not one creepy message or passing by someone's work one time. Stalking is defined as a willful, malicious pattern of behavior. So two or more acts directed at a specific person that would make a reasonable person feel terrified, intimidated, or afraid for their safety.

John Nationally, about thirteen point five million people are stalked every single year. Here in Nevada, a stalking protection order is granted roughly every four and a half hours. That's how often someone is reaching a breaking point and asking for the court's help. Nearly three out of four victims know the person stalking them personally, and in forty percent of cases, it's a current or former intimate partner.

Shaun And as we've mentioned on the show before, that's when things get especially dangerous. Research shows that stalking by an intimate partner is one of the strongest warning signs for lethality. More than three quarters of female DV murder victims were stalked by that partner in the year before they were killed.

John Stalking keeps changing with technology as well. There are still physical surveillance, of course, with stalkers waiting outside workplaces or following their victims. But now, with all the types of digital monitoring, such as stalkerware on phones, constant unwanted contact through social media, GPS tracking, stalkers are using all kinds of technology and control to terrorize someone long after a relationship ends. The impact on victims is enormous. Many experience severe anxiety and depression, and more than half lose at least five days of work because of the stress, the court process, or the safety changes they're forced to make just to survive. That is part of why Nevada updated its laws in the last legislative session. The Safe Streets and Neighborhoods Act of twenty twenty six explicitly recognizes digital harassment as evidence of stalking, and it expanded protections to include dating partners who don't live together, which closed a gap that left a lot of victims unprotected.

Shaun This week, we have the story of a prominent Las Vegas woman who was stalked by a police officer. Rebecca Wolfson was stalked by her ex-fiance, Christopher Young, who also happened to be a metro police officer. And if you recognize that last name, Wolfson, from any of our previous episodes, you're right. Rebecca is the daughter of Clark County D.A. Steve Wolfson. This is a story of why stalking is never just harassment, especially when the person doing it knows exactly how the system works.

John But before we get to that, we want to share with you another story of a missing person from Metro's missing cold case database. This week we heard from the mother of one of the missing people we covered earlier this season, and that conversation really drove home how important it is for us that we keep covering these stories. So do you want to get us started with the story we're sharing this week?

Shaun Absolutely. This week we're talking about Jonathan Hall. Next month will be the seventh year anniversary of his disappearance, as well as his thirty seventh birthday on Wednesday, February thirteen, twenty nineteen. Then thirty year old Jonathan Hall vanished in Las Vegas after a typical day of work, just days after his thirtieth birthday on February ninth. Growing up, Jonathan lived in Mississippi with his mom, Anna Asbury. In twenty twelve, he moved away from the rural South to Las Vegas to live with his father, Steven Hall. In twenty nineteen, Jonathan was working two jobs a maintenance position with his dad, as well as at the Las Vegas Q club, located in the Commercial Center shopping plaza on Sahara near Maryland Parkway, just about a mile away from the Las Vegas Strip. The pool hall has been open since nineteen sixty four, and it's considered a legendary place to play pool. Jonathan loved playing pool, and working at the Q club gave him a chance to work on improving his skills in the game. On the day he went missing, his father dropped him off at home after their maintenance shift, after which Jonathan headed to his evening job at the billiards club. He was last seen at the club around seven thirty p m, according to reports His coworkers remember seeing him at the Q club that evening, but no one recalls seeing him leave or when he went home. The following day was February fourteenth, Valentine's Day, and his dad, Steve, started getting worried when Jonathan didn't show up for work. After twenty four hours had passed with no contact, he was very concerned. Jonathan also kept in very frequent contact with his mom, Anna. The two of them spoke nearly every day, despite the distance between them, and she noticed the sudden and uncharacteristic silence from her son. Jonathan didn't own a car. He relied on a moped and a scooter to get around. Both were found at his home, so it seems like he made it back to his place after he left work that night. The only things of note missing from his apartment were his backpack and its contents. His sister, Amber, told News Channel three that he would not purposely walk away without saying, I'm going away. Don't be worried if you don't hear from me. But since that night, there have been no activity on his bank accounts, his social media or his phone. His mother, Anna, noted that she sensed something was wrong during a fifty nine minute phone call just days before his disappearance, though Jonathan didn't disclose any specific troubles at that time. Anna agrees with Amber that Jonathan would never simply walk away from them like that and just drop out of contact. Soon after he disappeared, Las Vegas Metro classified him as a missing person and pushed out a public alert to help generate leads. His case was then entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons system, Namus, and on the Charley Project, where he is classified as endangered. Missing. His family members have provided DNA in case there could be an opportunity for identification one day, but as of today, Jonathan is still missing his sister. Amber has said the emotional toll she's experienced is a, quote, deep, deep pain and I don't think there is really any help for it. Jonathan was well loved not only by his family but by his friends as well. Rozie Pitts, a friend and coworker, shared with the local news how much he still missed at the Q club. She said, I do still put a Christmas stocking out for him every year here, and I'm always looking that he's around somewhere. And his friend Lacey told the press. John's not just a number. He's not just a case number. He has a name and I think everyone deserves answers in this case. His mother, Anna, is tortured by his disappearance and misses him every day. Reflecting on the lack of progress, she stated, I live every day like a freaking nightmare because there's no closure. She has frequently told the press that she will not give up on finding Jonathan until the day she dies. Jonathan Hall will be thirty seven years old on February nine, twenty twenty six. Jonathan is a white male, five foot five, and weighs about one hundred and thirty pounds. He has dark blond hair or strawberry blond with eyes described as green or hazel, and he sometimes goes by John or Johnny. He was last seen wearing a black hooded coat, blue cargo pants, and brown hiking boots. One source describes Jonathan as having gauged ears in most of the photos I've seen of him. He has some style of facial hair, often a goatee. In one photo where he's more clean shaven, he appears to have a labret piercing. These distinguishing features are not mentioned in his name as profile. You can easily find that profile at. Anyone with information regarding Jonathan's whereabouts or the events of February thirteen, twenty nineteen is urged to contact the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department at seven hundred and two eight two eight three one one one. You can also reach the missing person detail directly at seven oh two eight two eight two nine oh seven. You can visit the family's Facebook group at. Where is Jonathan Hall? Note that Jonathan is spelled j o h t h a n. This is a reminder to follow us on Instagram and Facebook, so you can see and share all the photos of Jonathan and help his family and friends raise awareness. We're going to pause here for a quick break, but we'll be right back with this week's stalking case.

John Next up is the high profile stalking case Sean mentioned earlier. You've heard us mention mentioned Clark County D.A. Steve Wolfson and a lot of the cases that we've covered, he and his staff generally prosecute the cases that we cover here. He has a daughter named Rebecca Wolfson, who was an attorney for the city of Las Vegas in twenty twenty three and who was also a judicial candidate. She was dating actually engaged to a Las Vegas Metro police officer named Christopher Young. According to an email received from Metro, young has been with the police force since twenty sixteen. He is the son of William Bill young, who is a former Clark County sheriff. Wolfson and young broke off their engagement in July of twenty twenty three and according to a police report, Chris Young did not take it well. In that same document, it said that Young's behavior made Rebecca feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, harassed and fearful for her immediate safety. In the months following the breakup, he drove by her house often and showed up in places where she was. Also on August nineteenth, Twenty twenty three, Rebecca had a guest over and the next morning she got a call from young. He asked to get his firearm back. It wasn't clear to me why the firearm was still in her house. He said, I can't have random people having access to it. So that tipped Rebecca off that he must have been driving by the house and seeing her guests car. In court documents, it's explained that he drove by the house and wrote down the license plate in his notes app on his phone. On August twenty first, young accessed police databases to do a record check on the registration of that car and assigned himself to a call for service related to his job duties. The next day, Rebecca agreed to meet with young at the police station to turn over the gun as he requested, and she recorded the conversation, and in that conversation, young repeatedly asked about the car in front of her house, and that was obviously the reason that he texted her on the nineteenth. So then in October of that same year, he was doing another one of his drive bys, and he saw another car outside of her house. But this time he didn't just run their plates. He stopped, circled around the car, and then threw rocks at it, shattering the passenger window, denting the door, and doing nearly five thousand dollars damage. Rebecca's friend found two large rocks inside the car and another lying next to it as a police officer. You'd think he might know that there are a lot of ways to track down crimes like this, but it seems like he wasn't really thinking straight. Being a city attorney, Rebecca called the police right away, and they were able to find some pretty damning evidence while they were investigating. One of the things she was able to tell them is that at the time of the crime, she could tell that a device had joined her home wifi that had previously had the password. Also, someone who matched Young's description was seen on a neighbor's ring camera surveillance footage, so the police interviewed him the next day. Initially, as you might expect, young didn't really want to talk to the police, but he did ask them about the severity of the crimes they were investigating, which is pretty telling. They told him that they had a search warrant for his cellular devices and his shoes. The thing about the shoes seemed weird to me, but in the surveillance video they had, the shoes could clearly be seen and identified. He turned them over and they were a match. They also matched the clothing he was wearing. With that in the surveillance video, his cellular devices included his phone, of course, but also his Apple Watch. From analyzing his phone, they were able to determine that it was his phone that joined the WiFi. Again, just as the crime was being committed after midnight, which placed him at her home from his watch and his health app, they could tell that at the time of the crime, his heart rate was over one hundred and seventy one beats per minute. But they could also see that his normal resting heart rate was about eighty beats per minute. In December, young was arrested and charged with a gross misdemeanor for tampering with a vehicle. That's the vandalism and misdemeanor stalking. He was suspended without pay from Lvmpd immediately, and he first appeared in court in December, but he was released on his own recognizance, which means he didn't have to pay bail. And he was told to stay away from Rebecca and was to be tracked with high level electronic monitoring. And just to note that it was prosecuted by the state because obviously there was a conflict of interest because Rebecca Wolfson is Steve Wolfson's daughter. In March, he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor stalking charge. He was given a ninety day suspended sentence, no time in jail, and the conditions of his release included agreeing to stay out of trouble, complying with District court probation for a year. Mental health and substance abuse counseling. Writing a formal letter of apology to Rebecca paying restitution, and he was also given house arrest. As for the gross misdemeanor of injuring or tampering with a vehicle that went on to Clark County District Court, according to the transcripts, and it's not really clear based on the reporting where that ended up. He was supposed to be back in court around March ten, twenty twenty five. Not sure if the restitution covered the damage there, but if we find out, we will update.

Shaun I have some questions for you. Do you think that result was fair given the crimes against Rebecca?

John You might think that. I think that's a very light sentence, but I think in this case, it's kind of an appropriate sentence. He didn't strangle her. There's no allegations of domestic abuse or anything like that. I think it's actually an appropriate sentence in this case.

Shaun Do you know if he got his job back?

John I didn't read anything about him being released from the police force. Okay. As far as I know, he's still with them.

Shaun And just so I understand that punishment you were describing the agreeing to stay out of trouble, the counseling, writing the letter to Rebecca, etc.. That was all just related to the misdemeanor stalking charge. It's separate from what happened with the car. He's being charged in the district court for that?

John Yes. And there are no records about that following up on what he has been charged with or. But I assume that will just be property damage. That will be.

Shaun Yeah.

John You know, he'll have to pay restitution or something like that.

Shaun To the person whose car he actually wrecked. It wasn't actually, it wasn't Rebecca's car. So I feel like we just gave the listeners a little sample of what we talk about on Swing Shift.

John We did.

Shaun So if you want to hear more of the conversations we have about the episodes, make sure you're subscribed at. Next week, we're going to revisit a very important stalking episode in recognition of the National Day of Action for Stalking Awareness, which is this coming Sunday, January eighteenth. That day commemorates the murder of Peggy Klinck by her stalker in two thousand and three, championed by her sister, anti stalking activist Debbie Riddle, in her honor. We are going to reshare that episode. In that episode, we also cover the story of Miley Cyrus's stalker, which is a story you have to hear to believe. As we said, stalking affects one in three women, and as these episodes show, these are women from all different walks of life and income brackets. To participate in the National Day of Action for Stalking Awareness on January eighteenth, be sure to wear something sparkly or shiny and post a photo on social media with hashtags like sparkle against stalking and Nsome Day of Action to show solidarity and bring back the sparkle lost by victims. Be sure to tag us as well so we can see the photos.

John Be sure to follow the Stalking Prevention, Awareness and Resource Center spark at. Follow us or visit their website for more resources and important information to help spread awareness about stalking. Thank you, as always for listening, and please be sure to leave us a review on whatever platform you're listening on to help us grow the show. Until next week. Remember, what happens here happens everywhere.

John Thanks for listening. Visit. Subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to listen ad free. Remember to like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and threads at Sins and Survivors. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at questions@sinsandsurvivors.com

Shaun Com if you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or need support, please reach out to local resources or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources is available on our website sinsandsurvivors.com Sins and survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast is researched, written, and produced by your host Sean and John. The information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording. If you have questions, concerns or corrections, please email us. Links to source material for this episode can be found on our website. Sins and survivors. Com.

John The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast creators, hosts and their guests. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal professionals for guidance.