UPDATE, MAY 20, 2:33 P.M.: Huntington Beach 28-year-old Brian Dopler was sentenced today to five years and four months behind bars for stalking and making criminal threats against a Huntington Beach police detective who was investigating Dopler for stalking someone else.
A judge ordered Dopler, who was on probation for domestic violence against his ex-girlfriend at the time of his early 2010 stalking arrest, to serve two years in jail for violating probation. He will spend three years and four months in state prison for the crime against Det. Gary Kim, whose victim impact statement follows after the jump . . .
]
According to the Orange County District Attorney's office, the 15-year veteran of HBPD told the court:
“I have investigated domestic violence cases for over
five years. In my experience, the worst fatal or near fatal cases are
often always preceded by restraining order violations and stalking
behavior. I was the assigned detective in all three of Mr. Dopler's
stalking cases. Two things that made him stand out from other stalking
suspects were his complete obsession with his ex-girlfriend and myself,
and the fact that he always told me the truth.“During the first three
cases, Mr. Dopler relentlessly violated the restraining order with
hundreds of text messages, voice mails, emails and drive-by's at the
victim's residence. When I would interview him, the thing that alarmed
me is he admitted every restraining order violation simply because he
'just wanted to talk to her or see her one last time.' Towards the end,
Mr. Dopler became more agitated and he threatened to buy a toy gun and
point it at me in the hopes of humiliating me and my department by
forcing me to shoot a man with a toy gun.“Mr. Dopler never apologized or
had remorse for his actions but considered his arrest as silly. I
realized later Mr. Dopler does so because he simply believed what he was
doing, the fear he was imposing on the victim, was not wrong.”
UPDATE, JUNE 2, 2010, 10:58 AM: Brian Dopler, who we told you last month was on trial for stalking a police detective investigating the Huntington Beach 28-year-old for stalking someone else, has been convicted.
Dopler was found
guilty by a jury Tuesday of one felony count each of attempted criminal threats
and stalking. He was not eligible for the more serious charge of making criminal threats because, by law, there must be evidence the victim was in fear for his life. That was not the case with the victim.
Among the slurs “The Doplerganger” directed at the Asian-American cop was this: “You
fucking slant-eyed fuck.”
Beginning in May 2009, Det. Gary Kim, a 15-year veteran at the Huntington Beach Police
Department, investigated
three cases involving Dopler for stalking and violating a protective
order, for which he was later convicted and sentenced to 300 days in
jail and three years of informal probation.
In
December 2009, Dopler is accused of calling Kim repeatedly to
inquire if any new cases were being brought against him.
Between
Jan. 8 and Feb. 10 of this year, Dopler allegedly stalked the detective
and left 14 harassing phone messages in which he supposedly used
expletives and mentioned he had been following Kim.
On Feb.
10, Dopler is also alleged to have left Kim a phone message filled with
racial slurs, expletives, a threats to kill
the detective or any other police officer who followed him.
Among The Doplerganger's greatest snits:
- “You fuck with my life anymore, I will fucking kill you. . . . That's a promise.”
- “You
fucking slant-eyed fuck.”
- “The next cop that follows
me will die as well. Fuck you.”
Dopler's reign of stalking and shit-talking could fetch him up to three years and four months
in state prison at his June 11 sentencing in Santa Ana.
[
ORIGINAL POST, MAY 25, 2010, 7:28 A.M.:
A Huntington Beach man faces trial this morning for allegedly stalking a police detective who was investigating the defendant for stalking someone else.
If convicted of the felony counts against him of stalking and making criminal threats, 27-year-old Brian Dopler could get up to three years and eight months in state prison. He was being held on $1 million bail awaiting today's opening statements, which are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.
Beginning in May 2009, a 15-year veteran at the Huntington Beach Police Department identified by prosecutors as Detective Kim investigated
three cases involving Dopler for stalking and violating a protective
order, for which he was later convicted and sentenced to 300 days in jail and three years of informal probation.
In
December 2009, Dopler is accused of calling Kim repeatedly to
inquire if any new cases were being brought against him.
Between Jan. 8 and Feb. 10 of this year, Dopler allegedly stalked the detective and left 14 harassing phone messages in which he supposedly used expletives and mentioned he had been following Kim.
On Feb.
10, Dopler is also alleged to have left Kim a phone message filled with racial slurs, expletives, a threats to kill
the detective or any other police officer who followed him.
It's unclear if these calls ended with “Have a nice day.”
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.