Man Arrested, Charged With Stalking, Harassing Oregonian Editor

PORTLAND, OR – A Portland man is behind bars after being arrested on charges he stalked and harassed an editor at The Oregonian. Kevin Purfield was indicted last week.

Court records indicate that Purfield, a 51-year-old resident of Portland, repeatedly harassed the top editor at the paper and its website, Therese Bottomly over articles printed in the paper and online about mass shootings.

Purfield said that shootings such as the ones in Pittsburgh at the Temple of Life Synagogue and the one at a movie theater in Aurora, CO., had never taken place.

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The Oregonian, which first reported the arrested, said that Bottomly had referred questions to a lawyer.

Officials say that Purfield has struggled with mental illness.

This is not first time Purfield has been in court on charges related to his views in mass shootings.

In 2013, he was put on probation by a judge after Purfield had called people who lost family at the Aurora shooting and told them that their relatives had not died.

He's now charged with felony stalking and misdemeanor telephone harassment and is being held on $2 million bail.

Photo via Multnomah County Sheriff's Office.