Eden Prairie man charged with stalking

The 34-year-old was charged with following and calling his estranged wife's family and friends and harassing them.

Last update: October 8, 2009 - 11:52 PM

An Eden Prairie man accused of stalking his estranged wife and harassing her family was charged Thursday with five criminal counts.

Eden Prairie police were called 25 times over a month in the case, according to the criminal complaint, after the man showed up at the homes of his wife's relatives and her parents' church.

Jason Jerome Fountaine, 34, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with engaging in a pattern of harassing conduct, a felony, as well as harassment/stalking and three counts of violating a protection order. He is in the county jail in lieu of $30,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court this afternoon, according to jail records.

Fountaine's wife first filed a report with Eden Prairie police on Aug. 25 after he had contacted her friends and her boss and had followed her from a marriage counseling appointment, the complaint said.

Later that day, when she took her son to her father's house, Fountaine allegedly drove by and sent 40 text messages, 38 to her father and two to her at 2:30 a.m.

The sightings continued over the next two days, as the wife filed for an order of protection and Fountaine was served with it, according to the complaint.

He later allegedly tried to contact his wife multiple times as well as other relatives and people she knew from work and church. In September, Fountaine called his wife's sister-in-law in Colorado five to 10 times one night in an attempt to talk to his wife, the complaint said, adding that he showed up at her sister's house in Minnetonka at least 10 times, at least three times at her parents' church and delivered flowers to her mother at her job with a note.

VINCE TUSS