Staff Report

Dustin Michael Boardman

WARSAW — A man previously convicted in two stalking cases was recently arrested for stalking a woman multiple times in a two-month timespan.

In the first case, Dustin Michael Boardman, 36, 305 W. Collamer Road, South Whitley, is charged with two counts of stalking, both level 5 felonies; and three counts of invasion of privacy, all class A misdemeanors. Boardman was also charged with stalking, a level 6 felony, in a second case.

On Nov. 29, 2020, a Warsaw Police officer responded to a protective order violation. Upon arrival, the officer spoke with a woman who said Boardman had been following her, even though she had a protective order against him.

According to court documents, the woman said Boardman first contacted her on Nov. 26, 2020, via telephone. The woman recorded the call and forwarded it to the Warsaw Police Department. She also said she was leaving a local shop when she noticed a vehicle pull up behind her and recognized the driver as Boardman.

The woman described the route she traveled and how Boardman allegedly followed her in his vehicle. When she pulled into a parking lot, Boardman approached her vehicle on foot. The woman asked Boardman if he put a GPS tracker on her vehicle and he said he did. She then left the parking lot and went to the police department.

Later that day, the woman contacted officers and said she found a phone with magnets attached to it affixed to her vehicle’s frame. The officer met with the woman to photograph and remove the phone from her vehicle.

On Dec. 1, 2020, the woman told officers that Boardman was continuing to contact her. When she went out to her vehicle, she noticed a package on her vehicle’s windshield. The woman videotaped herself opening the package and found a cellphone. On the cellphone, Boardman was speaking to her via a live video call. The woman showed officers the video of her opening the package.

At the time of the aforementioned incidents, Boardman was under a protective order prohibiting him from having any contact with the woman. He was served this order in December 2018, with it remaining in effect through December 2020.

A warrant for Boardman’s arrest was issued on Dec. 1, 2020. The woman was granted a new protective order against Boardman; however, the protective order was unserved due to Boardman’s unknown location at the time.

Multiple attempts were made to serve both the protective order and arrest warrant on Boardman.

Court documents state on Jan. 14, a Winona Lake Police officer spoke to the woman about Boardman. The woman said she received a package from Amazon containing a book titled “I Love You But I Don’t Trust You: The Complete Guide To Restoring Trust In Your Relationship.” A personal note was sent along with the package that said the woman had allegedly contacted the sender the previous week requesting that they meet. The note also said they needed to improve their communication and that the sender cared about her.

The woman said the note was from Boardman and that he had sent the same book to her parents’ residence several weeks earlier while she was visiting them.

On Jan. 16, the woman told officers she received a text message from Boardman, asking her how she’s been and if she wants to come over to his parents’ place to watch a football game. Boardman then tried to call the woman and she declined the call. He later sent her more text messages asking if she was watching the game.

On Jan. 28, the woman received more text messages from Boardman. She also noticed a notification from the video-sharing app TikTok about a follower using part of her former TikTok username, leading her to believe it was Boardman following her TikTok account.

On Jan. 29, the woman said she received seven phone calls from a number she did not recognize, followed by a text saying “Why not talk?” She believed Boardman was the one contacting her due to the subject nature of the texts sent to her.

During this investigation, the woman has expressed fear for her safety, given Boardman’s erratic behavior.

Boardman has been previously convicted of the following crimes: menacing by stalking in Franklin County, Ohio, in 2011; protective order violation in Franklin County, Ohio, in 2011; stalking in Kosciusko County; battery in Kosciusko County in 2020; and failure to appear in Kosciusko County in 2020.

Boardman was arrested in these two new cases on March 16, with a $26,250 surety and cash bond.