Sex Offender Convicted Of Stalking Napa County Women: DA

NAPA COUNTY, CA — A Napa County jury found a convicted sex offender guilty Monday of felony stalking and misdemeanor stalking, Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley announced.

The convictions were a result of the defendant, Christopher Scott Cline, 30, repeatedly returning to the rural property of a 72-year-old woman he did not know, Haley said in a news release.

The victim lived alone in a home set back from the road, behind a wall and two secured gates. After being ordered twice by the Napa County Sheriff's Office to stay away from her property, Cline was found at the woman's door in the middle of the night after repeatedly ringing her doorbell and waking her up, prosecutors said.

About an hour later, a deputy found Cline in Calistoga, a couple of miles away from the woman's residence, prosecutors said.

In a five-day trial presided over by Napa County Superior Court Judge Cynthia Smith, jurors also heard evidence of Cline's predatory history of targeting women in Napa County.

Prosecutors said one of the female victims he targeted worked the graveyard shift as a security guard at a PG&E jobsite following the 2020 wildfires. He is also accused of targeting two elderly women in 2018 who lived in a senior community.

All three women testified during the trial.

One of the elderly victims described being sexually battered by Cline, prosecutors said.

"Mr. Cline was and is a demonstrated threat to particularly vulnerable women in our community and our seniors," said Napa County Deputy District Attorney Taryn Hunter, who prosecuted the case. "It can be incredibly frightening to have a stranger stalk you at your home, especially when you’re alone in an isolated part of the county. A sizeable amount of the testimony in this matter came from our elderly victims. Our office has professionals on staff to assist our seniors with their unique needs to achieve justice – highly skilled advocates and lawyers who walk with them throughout the court system process."

Cline was required to register as a sex offender since 2016 when he was convicted of annoying or molesting a child in Los Angeles County.

At the time of his arrest, Cline was on two grants of Napa County probation for receiving stolen property and failing to register as a sex offender.

Cline is in custody in Napa County jail and is scheduled to be sentenced June 1.