Man accused of stalking by taking neighbor’s photo through window

A Cameron man is accused of stalking his neighbor by taking photos of her through her window sitting in her living room and then texting them to her.

Christopher E. Rosenthal, 25, was charged on Aug. 5 with felony stalking and misdemeanor disorderly conduct in Barron County Circuit Court.

The defendant’s initial appearance is set for Wednesday, and he is free on a $100 cash bond. If convicted of the felony, he could be fined up to $10,000 and imprisoned for as many as 3½ years.

According to the criminal complaint, police were notified at approximately 12:04 a.m. on Aug. 2 that a women, identified as M.L.C., said Rosenthal, who is her neighbor, had been taking photos of her through her window and sending them to her via text.

M.L.C. said she had been sitting in her living room when she saw the defendant standing in the doorway of his home looking through her window. When her son sat up and saw Rosenthal, the defendant left the doorway and ran through his entire house shutting off all the lights.

M.L.C. opened a messenger app on her phone and showed an officer the photo Rosenthal had just sent her before law enforcement arrived. The photo was a picture of M.L.C. in her living room and included a comment about her body.

M.L.C. then scrolled through all the messages the defendant had sent to her over the past few weeks. The messages included photos of M.L.C. on her porch, in her yard and in her house. She also provided photos that the defendant sent of himself shirtless in a bathtub and said he also sent one of his penis, but they were deleted from the conversation.

M.L.C. said she had tried multiple times to get Rosenthal to stop, but he would apologize and proceed to send pictures again later.

The neighbor said she felt the photos taken of her inside her house were invasive and made her feel vulnerable, and she felt scared.

Rosenthal said he had just lost his sister and was not in his right mind that night. When asked about the photos he sent to M.L.C., he agreed that the messages had crossed boundaries and were inappropriate. He also said that he had sent messages to M.L.C. via Messenger, and the pictures did include his penis.