ST. CHARLES COUNTY • A former New Melle police officer was placed on probation this morning for harassing a woman through sexual text messages.

Terry G. Calahan, 40, of the 100 block of Tuscany Lane in Wentzville, was found guilty Feb. 9 of misdemeanor harassment. He had sent text messages in September 2009 asking an elementary school teacher for sex. In one, he said he was watching her.

Associate Circuit Judge Norman C. Steimel found Calahan guilty of the harassment charge, but he found him not guilty of violating a protection order for stopping the woman in her SUV in December 2009, after she had filed a complaint against him.

The woman, Heather Swann, now is suing Calahan, Chief Aaron Burkemper and the City of New Melle in federal court. The lawsuit says that, in addition to the stop, the department started an unfounded criminal investigation against her after she filed her complaint.

This morning, assistant prosecutor Gwendolyn Goeke asked for jail time for Calahan. "I think it's time for us to tell him he can't do this anymore," she said.