Prosecutor: 26-Year-Old Man Gets 364 Days & Probation for Stalking, Burglary

May 19, 2020 Elaine Van Develde

A Monmouth County man has been sentenced to 364 days in the county jail and five years of probation after pleading guilty in January to charges of burglary and stalking, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said on Tuesday.

The charges stem from an investigation launched last year after he was accused of harassing several women through social media, ultimately breaking into the township home of two of his female victims.

Wayde M. Delhagen, 26, of Wayside Road, Neptune, pleaded guilty on Jan. 28 to: one count of burglary and four counts of stalking.

Monday, Judge Torregrossa-O’Connor sentenced Delhagen was sentenced on Monday to the 364 days in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in Freehold Township, followed by five years of probation upon his release. Delhagen is also subject to a final restraining order (FRO) prohibiting him from contacting all victims in this case and barring his return to Wayside Road in Neptune Township.

Delhagen’s arrest was the result of joint investigations by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, and Neptune City and Neptune Township police departments.

During his plea, Delhagen admitted to breaking into the home of two women, an 18-year-old girl and her mother, at 3 a.m. on June 15, 2019. Delhagen broke into the girl’s bedroom through a window, while mother and daughter were asleep in another part of the residence. During a search of the surrounding area, Neptune Township police officers found Delhagen in front of a nearby home. He was found in possession of a bathing suit top and a bra taken from a laundry basket located under the window of her bedroom and belonging to the 18-year-old victim.

Delhagen had previously come into contact with the 18-year-old several months earlier through social media. That contact morphed into harassment after the victim rejected Delhagen’s efforts to set up a meeting for the two, forcing the victim to cut off any communication between them. In May 2019, Delhagen contacted the victim using a different social media platform, stating that he was coming over to the victim’s house and inquiring if the victim’s mother was home.

He then sent her a series of sexually-charged messages and images, including a screenshot of an online image of the victim’s residence, directly identifying her bedroom window. After he was again rejected by the victim, Delhagen sent harassing messages to the girl’s mother.

Delhagen also sent a series of harassing messages via social media to a separate set of victims in Neptune City. In that case, Delhagen utilized social media accounts to repeatedly send threatening, sexually-charged messages and sexually-explicit materials over the course of several months to another young female victim and her mother. Delhagen had previously been convicted of harassing the same young woman in a similar manner in 2018.

— Edited press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office