Accused Rapist Arrested for Stalking

A man accused of rape and online harassment of multiple women has been arrested on accusations that he has– for the third time– continued to stalk his victims.  57-year-old Leslie Dean Ernst had been free on bond since November, awaiting sentencing for five counts of felony privacy in communications.  He was arrested on Tuesday after one of Ernst’s alleged victims told police in April that he was contacting her again using fake Facebook accounts.

It’s the third time Ernst has been arrested and the second time he’s been accused of harassing women online after posting bond for release.  While the case started in 2013, it wasn’t until November 2016 that the court ordered him to avoid using computers.  An April 27 police report recounts a Billings detective saying that the alleged victim contacted him about “suspicious” Facebook activity.