Convicted Shawn Johnson stalker gets 5 years in mental facility

A man convicted of stalking Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson was sentenced Tuesday to five years at a state mental facility.

Prosecutors alleged that Robert M. O'Ryan made his way from the Jacksonville, Fla., area to try to meet Johnson, whom he had an "obsessive desire to marry,'' and that he would do anything possible to accomplish that goal.

During the trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Wendy Segall showed Johnson a series of weapons, including a shotgun and a large knife, recovered from O'Ryan's car after he was arrested when he jumped the fence last year at CBS Studios, where Johnson was taping the TV show "Dancing with the Stars."

After seeing the weapons and a series of photos that were in O'Ryan's possession, Johnson testified, "It made me feel really scared."

O'Ryan said in a taped interview with L.A. police detectives that he "never harmed anyone" but would use the guns, zip ties and electrical tape in his car to protect Johnson.

"She is a very important person ... and if I had opportunity to protect her, I would," O'Ryan said in the interview.

A man convicted of stalking Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson was sentenced Tuesday to five years at a state mental facility.

Prosecutors alleged that Robert M. O'Ryan made his way from the Jacksonville, Fla., area to try to meet Johnson, whom he had an "obsessive desire to marry,'' and that he would do anything possible to accomplish that goal.

During the trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Wendy Segall showed Johnson a series of weapons, including a shotgun and a large knife, recovered from O'Ryan's car after he was arrested when he jumped the fence last year at CBS Studios, where Johnson was taping the TV show "Dancing with the Stars."

After seeing the weapons and a series of photos that were in O'Ryan's possession, Johnson testified, "It made me feel really scared."

O'Ryan said in a taped interview with L.A. police detectives that he "never harmed anyone" but would use the guns, zip ties and electrical tape in his car to protect Johnson.

"She is a very important person ... and if I had opportunity to protect her, I would," O'Ryan said in the interview.

O'Ryan said he first began hearing the voice of Johnson, whom he nicknamed Sturdy Girl, while watching the Beijing Olympics on TV.

O'Ryan told Det. Jose Viramontes he communicated with celebrities using telepathy. He told detectives he had children with both male and female celebrities.

-- Richard Winton

Photo: Shawn Johnson. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Tom]

Why is it that I think that even 10 years won't be enough for this guy?

[amanda]

coo koos nest!

[bdby48]

California definetly has their share of the nuts in this country, I lived in Sac,Ca 17+ years , have a home in S. Cal near the beach and you just can't get away from them.If you go to Sausolito,Ca. all you hear is German & Japanese talking going down the streets. In many ares of this state everything is mexican, you would never know that you were in the good ole U.S. of A., because you aren't anymore.

[patrick]

so a cop in Oakland gets 4 years for murder, and a guy following WHO around gets 5 years in a mental facility, as citizens we all need to pray real hard that we are never on the wrong end of the stick when it comes to our government or court systems, this is just ridiculous

[Long Lance]

I still think Gilles Marini and Cheryl Burke should have won the MirrorBall Trophy!

[Guest]

She DOES appear to be a Sturdy Girl though...

[larry jackson]

It's praiseworthy that the guy is sent to a psychiatric facility rather than a prison. The fact that a precise time is set bothers me.
Maybe he'll be well in a year (unlikely) maybe, as Tom said, 10 years won't be enough.
Maybe it would be best to have evaluation meetings with the defendant, the judge and the shrink at predictable times(annually)?
It's likely that under those terms this guy will be at the funny farm a long time

[Mark]

Koo-koo, koo-koo, koo-koo....

[diana bollinger]

ALRIGHTY THEN I GUESS THAT WHERE HE NEEDS TO BE IN A MENTAL FACILITY

[Kathy]

I am an idiot. Never mind.

[Kat]

Um, bdby48, the guy is from Florida.

[Jen J]

bdby48, you seem to have ADHD. First of all, are you talking about crazies or immigrants? The two categories are different. And this guy came from Florida, not California. He would have followed her anywhere ... it just happened to be California.

[Jeff Griffin]

Citizens Commission on Human Rights has long known and now has many psychs on video admitting that they cannot cure anyone.

So why can't we get our court system see that handling a person in this manner is just throwing money down a deeeeeeep black hole.

In other words, no return on investment.