A man with a history of domestic arrests, including for violating a protection order, has been charged with stalking after he used a cellphone to keep track of his estranged wife and made copies of keys to her home to "check on her," according to prosecutors.
Jesus A. Lopez, 41, was arrested Friday in the 3700 block of South 53rd Court in Cicero after the woman called police and said he was peering through a window of her home, prosecutors said.
Lopez, who lives about a mile and a half from the woman in the western suburb, was charged with aggravated stalking and denied bail during a hearing Sunday.
Lopez had been following the woman "just about everywhere," including to work and shopping, since about Thanksgiving, prosecutors told Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil.
On Dec. 20, Lopez was at the woman's home when she returned from work and began arguing with her about dating, prosecutors said. He then "rammed" the driver's side of her car, they said.
Lopez continued to follow the woman and asked their 10-year-old to "tape conversations" with her neighbors. He tracked her location with a cellphone equipped with GPS that he secretly placed in her car, prosecutors said.
He also made copies of keys to her home "to check on her," prosecutors said.
Lopez and the woman have been living apart for years, prosecutors said. Lopez has a conviction for violating an order of protection, as well as several other domestic arrests, they said.
The judge, citing the allegations detailed in court, called him "a danger not only to himself but to society.''
Lopez's attorney said his client is a lifelong Cook County resident and has worked for the Chicago Transit Authority for the past six months.
He is slated to appear in court Feb. 18 in Maywood.
