CLEARFIELD – A Texas man charged with stalking a hotel employee pleaded guilty to lesser charges Tuesday during plea and sentencing court.
Joshua Leverett, 19, 11320 Tom Viozas Dr., El Paso, Texas, an inmate of the jail, pleaded guilty to two summary counts each of harassment and disorderly conduct. He was sentenced by Judge Fredric J. Ammerman to 95 days to one year in jail. He was fined only $4 plus costs.
Ammerman noted that Leverett is “not from around here” and was only in the area because of a gas leak. He said he expected that Leverett would never come back and speculated the county would never receive payment for his fines and costs.
The charges stem from incidents on Aug. 2 in Lawrence Township. According to the affidavit of probable cause, the victim called police to report that a man staying at the hotel had been following her around and refusing to leave her alone. When she arrived for her shift, Leverett was sitting on a bench outside the entrance. He followed her into the lobby area where he stayed for most of the evening.
He started with small talk and was polite. But as the night wore on, he referred to how he had been in jail and asked her many times to go back to his room.
She tried to keep her answers as short as possible, hoping he would “get the hint” and leave her alone. Although she isn’t supposed to leave the front desk, she repeatedly asked the bartender if she could help her in an effort to get away from Leverett. She also tried to look busy so he would leave her alone, but he stayed near her.
At one point, she left the front desk to lock the entrance to the pool area after it closed. He followed her and pulled her close when she tried to lock the pool door. She turned and was able to push him away. He tried to grab her and again she pushed him away.
When she got back to the front desk, he asked her if they were going to talk about what happened at the pool. She told him nothing happened because she wasn’t sure what to say. She was very scared but she didn’t want to anger him for fear he would hurt her.
He stayed in the lobby area and kept asking if she would go to his room. He said he would “only need 10 to 45 minutes of her time.” He said it was probably her only chance to see him because he and his friends were leaving in the morning.
The victim called a co-worker to tell him what was happening and explain how she was reluctant to walk to her car after her shift ended because she wasn’t sure what Leverett would do to her outside.
When the co-worker entered the property, Leverett left the lobby and went to his room. The victim said she broke down crying and called her manager to tell her of the situation. She returned home and told her husband. She was very emotional and they agreed she needed to call police.