SANTA ANA : Man Gets Year Term Under Stalking Law

The first person convicted in Orange County under the state’s anti-stalking law was sentenced Monday to one year in jail for violating a court order that he stay at least 10 miles away from the woman he had been convicted of harassing.

James Otis Sims Jr., 39, who was convicted in January, 1992, was released hours after sentencing because he was given credit for time already served.

He had been convicted of stalking Sandra Potter, 34, of Westminster, and was sentenced to 60 days in jail under the new anti-stalking law, which had gone into effect one year earlier. A condition of his probation in 1992 was that he remain more than 10 miles from Potter’s work and home.

Since that conviction, Sims has twice violated probation. In September, 1992, he was spotted in an Anaheim movie theater near her home and was arrested. He served two months in jail and was released.

Ten months later, Sims violated probation again when a detective caught him eating a sandwich in a Garden Grove park a few miles from Potter’s home. In July, 1993, Sims was sent back to jail, where he asked to be held until Monday’s sentencing. In both cases, Sims did not contest the violations.

Potter has said she dated Sims for five months nearly 15 years ago, and that she ended their short-lived relationship after he became “too possessive.”

For 12 years after the breakup, Sims stalked Potter, slashed her car tires, uprooted plants in her yard and once even assaulted her, which landed him in jail, according to court records.

A year after the stalking law went into effect in January, 1991--making stalking a misdemeanor--Sims was arrested and charged with that crime.

Sims’ attorney, James Brott, said his client plans to move from Orange County and not bother Potter again.

As part of Monday’s sentencing, Sims was given 15 months probation, and could receive more than a year in jail if he violates it.