The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
55°F
Current Conditions
Clear sky
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Official fabricated stalker

Alberta alderwoman Darlene Heatherington, left, and her husband, David, leave the Lethbridge, Alberta, courthouse Tuesday. Alberta alderwoman Darlene Heatherington, left, and her husband, David, leave the Lethbridge, Alberta, courthouse Tuesday. (Associated PressAssociated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press
Alberta alderwoman Darlene Heatherington, left, and her husband, David, leave the Lethbridge, Alberta, courthouse Tuesday. Alberta alderwoman Darlene Heatherington, left, and her husband, David, leave the Lethbridge, Alberta, courthouse Tuesday. (Associated PressAssociated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

LETHBRIDGE, Alberta – A municipal official in western Canada was found guilty of public mischief Tuesday for fabricating a stalker and writing lurid letters to herself in a saga that crossed borders and made international headlines.

Darlene Heatherington, 41, was charged last year after she vanished from Great Falls, Mont., while on business for the City Council of Lethbridge, Alberta. She reappeared days later in Las Vegas, saying she had been abducted and sexually assaulted.

Heatherington is to be sentenced Sept. 10. Provincial court Judge Peter Caffaro agreed to the prosecutor’s request for a psychiatric assessment before that. The maximum sentence is five years in prison. “I found that Mrs. Heatherington was not to be trusted to tell the truth,” Caffaro said.

Heatherington first reported to police that she was receiving letters from a stalker in October 2002. Some of the letters were sexually graphic. One talked of bondage.

But police grew suspicious after hidden cameras found no proof of the stalker. They also spotted her in the local library reading books on stalkers and found documents identical to the letters on her computer.

The saga reached a climax when Heatherington disappeared while on a business trip to Montana in May 2003.

Police launched a search and she was found three days later near a Las Vegas hotel. Heatherington was sent back to Great Falls, where officials say she recanted her abduction story.

Great Falls police charged Heatherington with giving false information, but two weeks later they agreed to drop the charge if she stayed out of trouble and sought psychiatric help.

A month later, Lethbridge police charged her with public mischief relating to the stalking investigation. The case went to trial in January.

Heatherington refused calls to step down from the City Council but she was barred from some duties.

The council could ask a judge to remove her, but Lethbridge Mayor Bob Tarleck has noted that municipal elections due in October could make the issue moot.