Probation officer arrested on stalking charge

A state probation officer was arrested Saturday and charged with stalking his estranged wife.

David L. Williams, 40, is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation, said Teresa Jones, a spokeswoman with the Idaho Department of Correction.

Williams was booked into jail Saturday and has since been released on $5,000 bail. He declined to comment Tuesday.

The Coeur d’Alene resident is set to be arraigned in April on a charge of second-degree stalking, a misdemeanor. Jones said Williams is one of 22 probation and parole officers supervising felons in the 1st Judicial District, which includes Idaho’s five northern counties.

As a senior probation and parole officer, Williams’ responsibilities include supervising and counseling felons, and he has the ability to arrest probationers and parolees. Each parole officer carries a gun, according to the state’s Department of Human Resources Web site.

Williams’ wife of 15 years called 911 about 5:30 a.m. Saturday and said her husband had been stalking her throughout the night while she delivered newspapers for the Coeur d’Alene Press, according to Coeur d’Alene police reports.

Tamara Dulhanty told police that Williams, from whom she had recently separated, called her about 1:30 a.m. Saturday and said he wanted to talk about their relationship. They talked for an hour, according to the report, then she left to go to work.

Dulhanty told police her husband showed up at her work and was drinking alcohol from a cup in his car. There was an open bottle of liquor in the back seat, she said.

He went into the Coeur d’Alene Press building and began yelling, then tailed her as she delivered newspapers, Dulhanty told police. She described his driving as erratic and said that, at one point, he pulled up behind her and got inside her car.

She convinced him to get out of her car and called 911, according to the police report. Williams allegedly called Dulhanty’s cell phone and told her he was going to “do something sick.”

According to the police report, she was concerned because Williams reportedly had firearms at his home.

Williams was taken to Kootenai Medical Center and placed on a mental hold just before 11 a.m. Saturday, and Coeur d’Alene Police sought a warrant for his arrest upon release from the hospital.

Coeur d’Alene Police spokeswoman Christie Wood said Williams was arrested without incident.

He has been employed by the Department of Corrections since 1991, Jones said. Williams first worked as a corrections officer at a prison south of Boise and has been a parole officer since August 2002.

Jones declined to comment on the charge against Williams. In general, she said, a misdemeanor conviction is not necessarily cause for terminating an employee.

She said the department handles complaints against employees on a case-by-case basis, taking into account a number of factors.