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Victims urge felony carve‑out for adults who stalk minors; committee requests stalking bill draft
Summary
Victims from Glenrock described year‑long anonymous harassment of teenagers that used burner phones, impersonation and social media. The committee voted to draft an amendment to make adult‑on‑minor stalking an aggravated felony (three‑year age gap), and also requested a grooming bill draft modeled on Montana law with registry provisions.
Victims and family members described prolonged anonymous harassment and impersonation of teenagers in Glenrock and urged lawmakers to make adult‑on‑minor stalking a felony; the Joint Judiciary interim committee voted to ask LSO to draft such an amendment.
The testimony showed how modern stalking uses burner phones, fake accounts and impersonation to prolong fear and avoid early detection, and victims described months of delay while investigators obtained data from tech providers.
Jillian Holman, a junior at Glenrock High School and one of the victims, told the committee she endured months of anonymous texts and threats and that the stalker—a 41‑year‑old adult identified by police—received only unsupervised probation after pleading to misdemeanors. “An adult should not be able to stalk a minor and walk away with no real consequences,” Jillian said at the March 2025 hearing.
Preston Sorensen’s mother, Brandy Sorensen, described grooming and impersonation that escalated over eight months and said the family only learned the harassment source in October 2024 after investigators tied spoofed accounts, burner apps and a purchased phone to the adult suspect. Dan Holman, Jillian’s father, described the psychological toll and the family’s repeated court appearances. Law enforcement explained that it took multiple subpoenas and months to receive records from Google and telecom providers; the Holmans said getting Google data took three months and Samsung/AT&T another month and a half in their case.
Division of Victim Services attorney Chambers told the committee the office has repeatedly asked the legislature to update stalking statutes and said several other states carve out aggravated stalking when an adult targets a minor. LSO staff reviewed state statutes and told members that options include a separate felony provision or an enhanced penalty when an adult stalks someone under a given age.
On the committee motion, Senator Crago moved to direct LSO to prepare a bill draft amending the felony‑stalking provision (listed in committee materials as 62‑506e) to add an aggravated subsection for adult‑on‑minor stalking where the offender is an adult and at least three years older than the minor; the motion passed. The committee also approved a separate bill draft to criminalize grooming based on Montana House Bill 92, with a recommendation to include registry provisions on conviction.
Committee members asked LSO to return with statutory language and to consider age thresholds, whether a three‑year gap or another threshold was appropriate, and how to avoid undue collateral impact while giving prosecutors clearer tools. The committee did not adopt final statutory text at the meeting; LSO will produce draft language for later consideration.
