Man Bugs Ex-Girlfriend's Bedroom, Spies on Her For a Year
A man who relentlessly stalked his ex-girlfriend by bugging her bedroom in order to spy and track her movements has been jailed after the woman endured a year-long campaign of harassment.
Gabriel Trepkos, 34, installed a covert surveillance device to eavesdrop on his former girlfriend's private conversations inside her home in Glasgow, Scotland, a court was told.
Trepkos then created a contact on his mobile phone called 'Shug the Plug', which he activated to listen in, and so monitor and track her movements, The Paisley Daily Express reported.
The pair were in a relationship for just over a year, but split more than a year ago in January last year, according to records from the Paisley Sheriff Court and as reported by The Express.
The 34-year-old is said to have launched a campaign of harassment upon his former partner by bombarding the university student with calls and texts, demanding she send him photos showing her location.
At one point, the court heard Trepkos told his victim that he and a friend "were laughing at her because she was singing to her cat Max."
In another incident, he turned up at a Tinder date she had arranged with another man, confronted and attacked the man at a McDonald's restaurant in Phoenix Retail Park and told the woman he "knew you were going to be at McDonald's" because "I bugged your home," the publication said.
Trepkos repeatedly punched the victim in the face and left him bleeding heavily, prosecutor David McDonald told the Paisley Sheriff Court and as reported by The Daily Record in May.
After the incident, the woman reportedly told her parents that Trepkos had bugged her home.
"Her father and brother discovered a double plug socket which was loose, next to a wardrobe," McDonald told the court. "Inside was an EE sim card attached to a circuit board and a microphone."
The device was photographed, removed, handed to the police and confirmed to have been used up as a covert "listening device."
The obsessive and controlling behavior left the victim terrified and frightened, the court was told.
Trepkos pleaded guilty in May to a charge of engaging in a course of behavior that was abusive, repeatedly accusing his victim of being unfaithful, repeatedly calling and texting her to ascertain her whereabouts, asking that she send images to display her location, following her, stealing her laptop, and installing a listening device in her property so he could spy on her over a one-year period between January 2020 and January 2021, the Daily Record reported at the time.
He pleaded guilty to the assault at a McDonald's restaurant on January 8 this year and a third charge of using a true key to enter the man's car days later on January 12, to rummage through the glove box and scatter documents on the ground, according to the publication.
Defence agent Jason Beltrami said his client had a previous conviction for similar offending and "has had difficulties with relationships in the past".
On June 14, Trepkos was sentenced to 30 months behind bars and ordered by Sheriff Thorley to be supervised by the local authority for one year after his release.
Thorley also imposed a five-year Non Harassment Order barring Trepkos from contacting or approaching both victims.
Newsweek has contacted the Paisley Sheriff Court for comment.
