LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — Court documents reveal James Gadsden wrote step-by-step plans to harass women before he approached them at several Lee County stores.
He wrote things like, “You may have to follow her until she goes to the car…”
No one was physically harmed by Gadsden in the documented stalking, but Florida Gulf Coast University counselor Yaro Garcia said judging from his notes, his behavior could escalate to violence.
“He has the ability to be pushy,” she said. “He was planning how to approach the women and what to do.”
And then acted on it. She said if he plans something else, he could act on that, too. She said he’s shown four signs that concern her: repeating the harassment, showing desperation, obsession and encouraging himself to act on his obsession.
Records show he harassed women until he gave them their phone numbers and addresses. hHe even showed up at one woman’s home with a plan. He wrote he’d say he’s looking for the Jones residence if the woman he expected didn’t answer.
Lee County Sheriff’s Office banned him from returning to that victim’s home as well as Walmart, Goodwill and Auto Zone on Lee Boulevard. shoppers there are still on the look out.
“It does concern me, because you don’t know…you don’t know people. You don’t know how people react,” said Samantha Davis.
Garcia said his journal entries show signs of sexually deviant behavior, known clinically as paraphilia.
“If the manager at Publix says hello to him, he might perceive that as it is okay for me to approach you with something sexual,” she said.
Davis shared her opinion on what Gadsden’s sentence should be.
“I think that he needs to get jail time. I think that’s harassment. I feel like he should get punished for that,” she said.
But Garcia warns even the best remedies may not work when it comes to deviant sexual behavior.
“Some paraphilia, we know that even with prison and counseling, and a combination of a lot of other things to help the person, the person does not recover,” she said.
A legal expert told Fox 4 it’s possible that Gadsden could just get a psych evaluation and serve no prison time. His next court date is February 8th.
