'Prophet' found guilty of stalking

Published: Thursday, December 17, 2009

By Carl Hessler Jr.

NORRISTOWN — A self-proclaimed prophet who spouted biblical passages to rail against a Lower Pottsgrove couple showed no emotion as a jury determined her conduct caused emotional distress for the couple.

The Montgomery County jury deliberated just 10 minutes on Wednesday before convicting Sharlene Andreyko, 50, of Lenape Road, Bechtelsville, of a misdemeanor charge of stalking in connection with incidents that occurred between December 2008 and March 2009.

Judge Steven T. O'Neill, referring to testimony about threats Andreyko made to the married couple, immediately revoked Andreyko's bail and ordered that she undergo a mental health evaluation at Montgomery County Emergency Services.

"The testimony at this trial was nothing short of alarming," said O'Neill, adding he couldn't predict Andreyko's future behavior and couldn't risk the safety of the Lower Pottsgrove couple or the community at-large if she were to remain free on bail at this time.

The judge said the issue of bail can be addressed again after Andreyko undergoes the psychological evaluation. Andreyko faces a possible maximum sentence of 2 ½- to-five-years in prison on the charge. However, sentencing guidelines also would allow for probation.

As sheriff's deputies slapped handcuffs on Andreyko, she expressed concern about her dog, which she claimed was still locked in her car outside the courthouse. Court officials planned to notify relatives of Andreyko, who was alone in court, about the dog. Andreyko testified she is married and is the mother of two children.

During sometimes bizarre testimony, Andreyko, who represented herself at trial, claimed she was a prophet called upon by the "Holy Spirit" to send religious-themed letters to the Lower Pottsgrove couple. In the letters and in court, Andreyko called the woman "a powerful witch" and "Jezebel" and said she was instructing the woman's husband that he was being "deceived" by a witch.

"A marriage to a witch is forbidden by God. If a witch used witchcraft to gain a husband her marriage and her children are not valid," Andreyko said during her closing statement to jurors, arguing that labeling her a stalker "blasphemes" the role the Holy Spirit gave her.

Andreyko, who claimed to be the daughter of a onetime pastor, described herself as someone who rescues Bibles, claiming to have 500 of them in her home. Andreyko also rambled for more than hour about the end of the world, Halloween, the right to bear arms and the Constitution.

During her so-called divinely inspired revelations, Andreyko quoted Scripture to the jurors and gave them a Bible lesson about the story of Abigal and David. Testimony revealed Andreyko signed some of the disturbing letters with the name "Abigal," an apparent biblical reference to the wife of Nabal.

"In this country we have freedom of speech. We have freedom to contact people," said Andreyko, claiming she did nothing wrong by writing the letters to the married couple and that she was not a danger to people.

But Assistant District Attorney John Walko argued Constitutional freedoms didn't give Andreyko the right to stalk the couple.

Walko presented the jury with about 20 letters that Andreyko wrote to the married couple, their church, their friends and relatives, and even to police and District Court Judge John J. Durkin. Andreyko, testimony indicated, made references to knowing the husband through a business school they attended 20 years ago.

After 20 years of no contact, Andreyko allegedly tracked down the man and his wife and began harassing them, prosecutors alleged.

Walko implied Andreyko wanted the man to leave his wife and fantasized about being with him. Andreyko referred to herself as the man's "future Valentine" in some of the letters.

In one letter, Andreyko implied the man's wife would be dead soon after crossing paths with a herd of deer.

"It shall be quite grotesque, body parts shall fly about and your head no longer shout for it will roll away," Andreyko wrote, according to testimony.

In another letter, Andreyko indicated "circumstances will make it appropriate" for the man to find another wife. Andreyko wrote that God executes witches and that the woman would be executed by God.

From: http://www.pottsmerc.com/articles/2009/12/17/news/srv0000007100546.txt