Police: Seattle stalker targeted women working downtown

A convicted stalker is again facing charges following allegations he approached women on downtown Seattle streets and then stalked them for weeks.

King County prosecutors claim Ibrahim Saleh Adam asked one woman for directions, then, in the days that followed, harassed her at work, by mail and in person.

“In this case, a week after engaging the victim in a conversation about directions, the defendant tracked her down to her place of business,” Deputy Prosecutor Brian Wynne told the court. “He then repeatedly called her at her work over the course of several days and sent her unsolicited mail … The state is concerned for the safety of the victim and the community.”

Adam was previously convicted of a misdemeanor when accused of comparable conduct. According to court documents, he harassed a third woman working downtown after meeting her on the street.

The 39-year-old has now been charged with felony stalking and is currently jailed on $50,000 bail. He was last released from King County Jail on Sept. 26, having spent more than a month in custody on the earlier misdemeanor charge.

Writing the court, a Seattle Police detective described Adam as a stalker with a “very specific method of operation” that begins with his asking a woman for directions. And that’s how Adam began stalking his most recent victim, the detective told the court.

According to charging documents, the woman was walking to work in January when Adam asked her for directions. He ultimately asked for her email – she gave him a fake one – and began following her, Detective Rande Christianen told the court.

Having been provided the fake email, Adam stopped the woman on the street a week later and asked again for her contact information, Christianen told the court. A week after that, he was waiting outside her office.

The woman told Adam to stop following her, but he remained undeterred, according to charging documents. He is alleged to have called her work multiple times, and sent her a package.

“(Adam) has called from payphones to the victim’s workplace multiple times and yelled how much he loves (her), before they are able to hang up on him,” Christianen told the court.

Christianen noted the alleged victim notified police on at least three occasions and obtained a court order against Adam. She was forced to modify her daily routine to avoid him.

Seattle police circulated a bulletin advising officers to arrest Adam if he was seen in the vicinity of the woman’s office, which would violate the court order. He was arrested Feb. 24 on the block where the office is located.

Charged with felony stalking, Adam has not yet entered a plea.

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Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.