Woman gets jail for ‘American Idol’ stalking

Xinhuanet — An Australian woman who stalked ‘American Idol’ contestant Diana DeGarmo over the internet was sentenced to 26 months in prison Friday.

Tanya Maree Quattrocchi, 23, from Melbourne hacked into the MySpace account of 2004 American Idol runner-up and wreaked havoc on the pop singer’s life for three years, intercepting her emails and texting her hundreds of times.

The Victoria state County Court sentenced Quattrocchi to more than two years in prison. She will be eligible for parole after 12 months.

Quattrocchi pleaded guilty to four counts of stalking. Quattrocchi was placed on a community-based order for stalking and blackmailing Ms Degarmo in 2006.　

However, six months later she again faced charges of stalking the singer after sending emails to her DeGarmo’s family and friends.

Judge Lisa Hannan said the offences were without doubt serious and she had no option but to impose jail time.

‘It is important that you understand the fact you perpetrated your offending using cyberspace does not diminish its significance,’ Judge Hannan said.

She said the victims of such crime had no doors to lock and no alarms to activate: ‘They are constantly vulnerable.’