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A Phoenix man took a plea agreement today in a federal stalking case, in which he attempted to "reclaim" his ex-wife in time for their 20th anniversary.
According to 49-year-old David Richards' admission, he only started stalking the woman 15 years after their marriage ended.
See also:
-Moses Shepard Gets Prison Time for Turning One Date Into 18 Years of Stalking
After meeting at a concert in Washington D.C. in 1987 -- when Richards was 25, and the woman was 15 -- the two got married in 1991. They divorced less than two years later, and Richards didn't contest the divorce.
However, in 2006, Richards started calling the woman's sister, and left her a message informing her that he had "reclaimed his wife as of today."
After the woman got a restraining order against Richards, he created a website with a countdown clock, indicating when that order expired.
The feds said that through 2007, Richards had continued to build this website, and had amassed 40 pages. Unfortunately, that website still exists today (we'd share it, but the URL is the victim's name).
To give you an idea of how creepy this website is, get a load of this:
One especially creepy section is the "body reconstruction" page, which Richards explains on the website.
"The ex-wife has been having sex with other people, and who knows how nasty they were, so her body needs some physical renovation from top to bottom," the website says. "One of the most important things to address when reclaiming your ex-wife is the total abuse and overall condition of her body. She has been sexually pounded by [a more recent ex-husband] for over a decade and so there needs to be some serious major body reconstruction..."
For example, the website describes the need for "Inner Vagina Wall Replacement."
We couldn't find one part Richards admits to, but the website was apparently home to recordings, in which Richards would have conversations with himself, pretending as if he was having a conversation with his ex-wife.
"The website also contained a broadcast depicting Richards at the fake grave-site of the victim," according to federal court paperwork. "On the broadcast, Richards speaks of lowering the victim into the ground and states 'Let's all bow our heads and just pray this bitch goes to hell. Amen.'"
The woman got a new restraining order against him once the other one expired, and Richards was tracked down to Arizona after he tried to purchase a gun. The ATF denied the purchase, as Richards had "prohibited person status" due to the restraining order.
Still, Richards continued to contact the woman, at one point sending her a box full of shredded copies of the restraining orders against him. He started to threaten her life after the day that would've been their 20th anniversary.
Finally, Richards was indicted in January 2012, more than six months after his 20th anniversary.
As part of a plea deal, Richards faces a maximum about five months in prison at his sentencing, which is scheduled for June.
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