Ex-candidate charged with stalking GOP rival

KRQE TV

Tina Jensen

Updated: Jan 3, 2013 10:34 AM

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) — Former congressional candidate Gary Smith was arrested again Wednesday afternoon this time on felony stalking charges.

The arrest comes days after Smith was arrested for allegedly slashing the tires belonging to his former political rival, Janice Arnold-Jones.

Smith was an announced candidate for the Republican nomination to the U.S. House.  He lost to Arnold-Jones, a former state legislator, in the June primary, and she was defeated by Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham in the November election.

When Smith was released on bond Saturday, the judge told him to stay away from Arnold-Jones' home.

But he showed up again.

Smith doesn't deny he was there.   

“He said he'd never been there before so he just wanted to see where they lived,” said Detective Lorenzo Garcia with the Albuquerque Police Department. “I don't buy that for a moment. It just shows that he may be mentally unstable.”

Garcia says the APD’s crisis-intervention team will likely be doing a mental health evaluation on Smith.

In a strange twist, a police officer also visited Smith's house earlier in the day -- after he'd called them -- claiming he'd been ripped off while selling electronic equipment on Craigslist.         

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