Man gets 26-year jail term for 17 years of stalking

In what prosecutors called the longest sentence for stalking in memory, a Seattle-area man was given a 26 1/2-year prison term for waging a 17-year campaign of harassment against a former classmate he met in middle school, and instilling fear in her.

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Shawn Moul, 31, passively accepted the sentence from King County Superior Court Judge Patrick Oishi on Tuesday, some six months after being convicted on two felony counts of stalking and 19 counts of violating anti-harassment orders.

According to the Seattle Times newspaper, Moul began stalking classmate Tracy Lundeen in 1994, shortly after Lundeen saw him at the school library struggling with his homework and offered to help him. Lundeen said Moul began following her and wrote her more than 100 letters, alternately threatening her and vowing to kill himself. He also contacted Lundeen's family members, demanding that she contact him.

Moul has already served prison time for repeatedly violating a no-contact order, having been sentenced to eight years in prison in 2001. But after his release, he again initiated contact through Lundeen's sister.

In court Tuesday, Lundeen spoke of the long nightmare Moul has made her and her family endure.

"We never asked for this," Lundeen said. "We have, from the beginning, asked for one thing, and that's to be left alone."

And she addressed her stalker directly in court, saying: "Mr. Moul , please listen to me. I don't love you. I don't like you. I don't intend to ever be with you. Please quit trying to contact me or my other family members."

Still, Lundeen added she believes that until Mr. Moul is dead, "nothing changes," the Seattle Times reported.

Moul also spoke at his sentencing, and did not oppose the lengthy prison term. "I don't mind being in custody for the rest of my life," he said.