ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, September 25, 1996 TAG: 9609250079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Below
``YOUR LIFE'S FOCUS,'' the judge said as he sent Michael Obremski to prison, ``seems to be intruding upon their lives and threatening'' girls.
When a man described by prosecutors as a "sexual sadist" was following young girls around a Southwest Roanoke neighborhood four years ago, there was little that frustrated police and infuriated parents could do.
Stalking wasn't illegal then, so police could not charge Michael A. Obremski with following children on their way to and from Raleigh Court Elementary School.
But Obremski's behavior as the "Raleigh Court stalker" caught up with him Tuesday, when a Roanoke County judge sentenced him to 151/2 years for making obscene and threatening telephone calls to 11 girls over the past few years.
Obremski, 42, called the girls from a pay telephone after getting their names from sports results, award ceremonies and honor roll listings in the Neighbors section of The Roanoke Times. But he didn't stop there.
In asking for a long prison sentence, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Marian Kelley described the way Obremski hung out at schoolyards, bus stops and soccer games in search of more victims.
"He was a predator, and he preyed upon the young girls of Roanoke County in order to excite himself from the fear that he would generate over the telephone," Kelley said.
Obremski would usually ask for the girls by name and then threaten to rape or abduct them, often using graphic language, Kelley said.
But at the end of Obremski's sentencing hearing in Roanoke County Circuit Court, one question was left unanswered: If he had not been arrested and jailed, would he ever have followed through on any of his threats?
"These children have never been touched," said defense attorney Tom Wray, who argued that his client needed treatment more than a long prison term.
Even if Obremski never laid a hand on his victims, Kelley responded, "he's already raped these girls over the telephone."
One of the victims was afraid to leave her home for a year, and the parents of a 13-year-old have had to hire a baby sitter for their daughter whenever they go out, because of the fear Obremski created, Kelley said.
Obremski did not testify and spoke only to make a brief statement just before he was sentenced by Judge Roy Willett. "I would like to apologize to everybody involved for the fear that I've caused," he said. "I was drinking, but I know that's no excuse."
Up until Tuesday, authorities had been reluctant to identify Obremski as the Raleigh Court stalker because he was never charged in that case. But probation Officer Jay Newberry testified that Obremski volunteered during an interview for a sentencing report that he was the stalker.
Since 1981, Obremski also has also been convicted of making indecent telephone calls, indecent exposure and malicious mischief, a charge that was reduced from aggravated kidnapping in Memphis, Tenn.
He faces additional charges of making obscene telephone calls in Roanoke and Botetourt County.
Police say Obremski, who has worked as a cook at upscale restaurants in Roanoke, made dozens - probably hundreds - of obscene telephone calls from a pay telephone outside a Williamson Road motel where he lived.
When police raided the room this year, they found a list of the names and telephone numbers of more than 400 girls.
"I have to be concerned about the girls and young women of Roanoke County," Judge Willett told Obremski. "Your life's focus seems to be intruding upon their lives and threatening them."
LENGTH: Medium: 68 linesby CNB