Park Ridge man charged with stalking ex-girlfriend with car tracking device

A Park Ridge man was charged with stalking after attaching a tracking device to his ex-girlfriend's car, Palatine police said Wednesday.

Joel A. Reiser, 50, of the 1100 block of Canfield Road, faces one felony count of stalking stemming from his Jan. 21 arrest, police said.

According to police, his former girlfriend reported receiving more than 100 text messages from random phone numbers with specific details about her location since October.

When she brought her vehicle to an automotive repair shop earlier this month, a tracking device was discovered. She contacted Palatine police, who began an investigation.

Detectives obtained a search warrant for the device and learned it was registered and purchased by Reiser, according to police.

Their investigation found that on no fewer than five occasions, the device's location, text messages sent to the victim by Reiser about her location, and the victim's actual location matched, police said.

Reiser was released on a $10,000 individual recognizance bond after a hearing in which a judge gave him curfew stipulations and ordered him not to have contact with the victim. He is due in court again Feb. 14.