Bellingham man suspected of stalking, harassing ex-real estate agent
A Bellingham man is suspected of stalking, harassing and threatening to rape and impregnate his former real estate agent through repeated emails, texts, written letters, pictures and social media to the agent and her family with threats.
The real estate agent received three no-contact orders in just over three years against the man.
Bellingham police on May 15 booked Matthew James Dale, 43, into Whatcom County Jail on suspicion of felony harassment and stalking, and jail records show he is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Dale first made contact with the agent in 2006 when she helped him find and purchase a condo in Bellingham, according to Whatcom County Superior Court documents filed May 20. Their interaction at the time included a few hours of in-person contact prior to the home purchase, and they became friends on Facebook, which is common between real estate agents and clients.
They had little contact until late 2017, court document state, but it was then that she reportedly received a letter with a return address from the condo she had helped Dale purchase at her home that included language, such as “human child sacrifice” and “whoredom.”
The agent’s parents also received a letter with the same return address and with the name “Matthew Dale” on it that stated the author was concerned for the agent in the afterlife, documents state.
The real estate agent made a police report and obtained a year-long no-contact order. Dale followed that order, but immediately after it expired in February 2019, Dale began harassing the agent again even though she had moved, documents state.
The real estate agent reported receiving several emails from an account associated with “Matt Dale,” documents state, some of which included images and other references to Dale’s peers from school in Minnesota, extortion and people getting pregnant by Dale.
Relatives of the agent also received similar emails, Facebook messages and letters from Dale, court documents state, including some that said that Dale’s plan was to get the agent pregnant.
The real estate agent again reported the contacts to police and received a year-long no-contact order, which Dale abided by, documents state, but in March of 2020, the agent again contacted police after a series of letters, photos and postcards were mailed to her and her relatives, documents state. Many of the letters again state Dale had plans to get the agent pregnant.
Other relatives received text messages from numbers they didn’t recognize that showed the same photos and language that had been mailed, documents state.
On May 11, Dale was served with a third protective order, this one for five years.
Bellingham investigators also spoke to a joint terrorism task force officer out of the Minnesota FBI field office who informed them that Dale has been the subject of 56 police reports since 2018 and that he has at least five restraining orders issued against him in Minnesota, Florida and South Dakota.
Police reports also showed Dale had repeatedly harassed former school classmates and friends and was cited for harassing others with the intent to abuse in 2009 in Minnesota.
The real estate agent told police that she felt Dale’s threats were escalating, felt threatened and feared Dale was planning to rape her repeatedly, documents state.
