A former psychiatric patient convicted of stalking Uma Thurman was jailed in New York Friday after he was charged with again trying to contact the Oscar-nominated actress.
Jack Jordan was arraigned on charges of stalking and criminal contempt for violating a restraining order. Jordan pleaded not guilty in front of the same judge who warned the 39-year-old he would go to jail if he tried to contact Thurman after his 2008 conviction for stalking the "Kill Bill" actress.
Prosecutors said he made several calls to Thurman on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30. He was arrested shortly before Thanksgiving at his family's home in North Potomac, Md. A police spokeswoman with the suburban Washington, D.C., department said officers sent to arrest Jordan found him sitting in front of a computer with Thurman's name in a Google search box.
Jordan was extradited to New York on Thursday. He told police, according to prosecutors, that the calls were a drunken mistake.
Michelle Kaminsky, Brooklyn assistant district attorney, did not say how Jordan got Thurman's number but said he may have been in Manhattan when one of the calls was placed.
"During one of the phone calls to a house guest, the defendant got very agitated and asked the house guest to step outside," Kaminsky said.
Jordan was being held without bail until his next court date, scheduled for Wednesday. His attorney had argued for protective custody because he said he could be attacked at Rikers Island, but Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro denied the request. A call to Jordan's parents was not returned Friday.
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The former psychiatric patient was convicted of stalking and harassing the actress from 2005 to 2007. He was sentenced in 2008 to three years' probation and told not to try to contact Thurman for five years.
Thurman told jurors at his trial that she was "completely freaked out" by his behavior. He sent bizarre letter and cards — featuring such ominous images as a picture of a bride with her head torn off and such unsettling messages as "my hands should be on your body at all times" — called her family and employees, tried to get into her trailer on a movie set and showed up at her Manhattan home late at night, according to testimony.
Jordan testified that he'd developed a crush on Thurman in high school after seeing her in the 1988 movie "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen."
He was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital in late 2005 after being questioned about his obsession with Thurman, he said.
After Jordan's most recent arrest, Thurman said she would not comment on the case.
The case is being prosecuted in Manhattan by a Brooklyn attorney because Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance's former law firm represented Thurman.
Selected Reading: DNAinfo, New York Magazine, NY Daily News
