Brooke Shields’ stalker sentenced to 60 days in jail after actress is on verge of tears in court
John Rinaldi tried to give stuffed teddy bears to star's daughters and bombarded her with fan mail and Twitter messages
A MAN who was charged with stalking and harassing actress Brooke Shields has been sentenced to 60 days in jail.
John Rinaldi was found guilty by a court in Manhattan, New York on Friday.
He has been told he has to avoid all contact with the actress and her family, and she is not allowed to go near her home in Greenwich Village.
Rinaldi was convicted by Judge Kevin McGrath of stalking and harassment.
“She gathered people. If you were more broken down, if you were homeless, if you were, whatever, she brought you into the fray. She wanted to be a saviour for everyone.”
Shields went on to sat she had tried to be polite to Rinaldi, but in the end spoke to her husband Chris Henchy to see if he could talk to him.
She recalled: “My husband said, ‘You’re freaking my kids out. You got to stop, you got to back off!'”
However, it was a few months later that he appeared at the star’s home with a picture frame, which was originally from her mother, who had made it for Shields on her 18th birthday.
The star, on the stand, tried not to cry as she said: “Instead of giving it to me, he said, ‘I want Rowan (her daughter) to have it.’”
Rinaldi was also allegedly sending messages via Twitter and letters, the content of which she was unhappy with.
Shields' legal team said the fan mail started in the 1980’s.
The New York Post also reported Shields spoke about an incident in May when he was parked outside her home – the star’s name was written in dirt on the back window of his Audi.
her home – the star’s name was written in dirt on the back window of his Audi.
She said: “It was a copy of my signature and I said, ‘This is beyond disturbing and creepy.’”
When she returned home later that night from a charity event, he was still there, looking for things in his car.
It was at this point she decided to take action.
Rinaldi’s lawyer claimed in court on Monday: ‘His actions in this case, socially inept perhaps, but the one thing that you can’t say about Mr. Rinaldi is that his acts are such that they rise to the level of criminality under any circumstance.”