WESTMINSTER, Colo. — A 30-year-old man was sentenced Friday after he was accused of breaking into a 20-year-old woman’s Westminster home, hiding in her closet and watching her.
Jason Cameron Stiles had pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary, stalking and crime of violence using a weapon, and was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Friday.
On Nov. 12, 2018, Stiles entered the woman’s home and attacked her in her bedroom. After a struggle, she fought him off and he fled from the home, according to the 17th District Attorney’s Office.
After the attack, police arrested Stiles near the home. At the time, he had a knife and latex gloves in his pocket, the district attorney’s office said. Police found Stiles’s handgun, which he purchased in 2016, outside the home.
During an investigation, police learned he had broken into the home at least twice in October 2018 and had photographed the woman’s possessions, including pages from her journal.
At Stiles’s sentencing hearing, a detective said Stiles continued to stalk the woman after posting bond.
Westminster Police Det. Matthew Morgado said Stiles hid in the woman’s closet on multiple occasions and watched her undress, brush her teeth, get ready for bed and sleep.
The woman did not know Stiles before the attack, according to the district attorney’s office.
The investigation found they had been in a class together at Front Range Community College during the fall of 2017. The woman told authorities she did not know this.
Adams County District Judge Priscilla Loew imposed the maximum sentence for the crimes.
“He would hide in her closet and watch her in her most intimate moments,” said Deputy District Attorney Natalie Scarpella. “The one question that remains is why? What was he planning to do had she not successfully fought him off? That is a question that has haunted everyone who has worked on this case.”
