On November 12, 2021, Judge Scott Arthur Evans sentenced Christopher Kling, age 48, to a term of 3 to 15 years in a state correction institution after an emotional sentencing hearing.  On April 1, 2020, Detective John O’Connor from the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office charged Kling with stalking, harassment, terroristic threats, tampering with evidence, and criminal conspiracy for repeatedly calling and texting three victims over a three-year period.  The victims reported to police that they received 25 to 50 calls or texts a day over the course of three years.  The calls and texts were extremely vulgar and threatening.  Most of the messages included threats to rape and murder the victims and children related to them. 

The victims reported the threats to various police agencies but were told that they could not trace the calls because the caller used “spoofed phone numbers”.  Ultimately, Detective O’Connor investigated all the calls and found that one of the victims worked with the defendant’s co-conspirator, Troy Sassaman.  Sassaman had recruited his friend, the defendant Kling, to make the obscene phone calls to the victims over the three-year period.  Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gettle explained to the Court that Sassaman gathered information from working with the victim.  For example, Sassaman learned where the victims were going to dinner at night and then he would have Kling call them while they were out.  On the calls, Kling would indicate that he was watching them, giving details to support the claim, and threatened to murder them.   After police charged Kling and Sassaman, Sassaman committed suicide.  Kling pleaded guilty to the charges and requested that the Court give him a lengthy period of probation.  His attorney indicated that Kling was “just a patsy for Sassaman”.  Gettle indicated that the relentless harassment went on for years and that “he wasn’t just a patsy—he was getting off on torturing these victims.” 

In imposing the state prison sentence, Judge Evans stated: “I’ve never seen anything like this before—both in my time on the bench—but even before that.  This was like a twisted horror movie and this was a real-life villain.”  One of the victims explained that during the three years there was one time that he begged the caller to stop because his mother was dying.  The caller said he would stop—for three days.  The victim stated that the calls stopped—for three days.  The calls then began again and did not cease until the defendant’s arrest.  Even after his arrest the victim stated: “He made one more call telling me it would never stop.” In response, Judge Evans indicated “I cannot even begin to appreciate what you went through.  I don’t know how to give back three years of what was this torture.  It’s like nothing I have ever seen.” 

As a condition of his sentence, Kling is to have no contact with the victims and must undergo a psychological evaluation.