Attorney sentenced for stalking ex-girlfriend

A Corona del Mar private defense attorney was sentenced Friday to more than three months in jail and ordered to participate in a drug treatment program for harassing and stalking his ex-girlfriend.

David Scharf, 46, was convicted in April of felony stalking and two misdemeanors of harassing his ex-girlfriend and violating a restraining order when he contacted her mother in October 2004.

Scharf, a former Orange County public defender and private defense attorney, was sentenced to 95 days in jail and five years’ formal probation, issued a 10-year restraining order against contacting the victim and ordered to participate in a batterer’s treatment program for a year.

The State Bar of California suspended Scharf’s license to practice law June 23. Officials said they will not hand down a decision on whether he will be disbarred for at least a few weeks.

Over the last four years, charges of Scharf being under the influence of and possessing controlled substances have been dismissed, as well as a second 2004 case in which Scharf was accused of stalking.

Friday’s sentencing is also rooted in a 2004 incident. In March 2004, Scharf met a woman online, and the two began dating. By July, the woman told Scharf that she no longer wanted to see him, but Scharf persisted.

From July to October of that year, Scharf sent several aggressive e-mails, many sexual, that grew increasingly threatening and harassing. The woman became so afraid of Scharf she left the state with her three children.

While she was out of state but before all of her belongings had been moved, Scharf entered the woman’s Lake Forest home and left her a copy of the California Penal Code with highlighted sections claiming he could have her arrested on trumped-up charges.

The woman got a restraining order against Scharf, who violated it in early October 2004 when he e-mailed the woman’s mother.

Scharf could have been sentenced to up to four years in prison.