Bail set for convicted serial stalker
May 27—WILKES-BARRE — With multiple arrests in multiple states for stalking women, and having been convicted of stalking a woman inside a church and her place of employment in Wilkes-Barre, Jeffrey John Hergert needs $300,000 bail to be released from the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.
Hergert, 50, appeared via video for a bail hearing before Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas on Tuesday.
Citing a concern for numerous closed and active stalking cases in Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, South Carolina and Washington to name a few, Lupas set bail for Hergert at $300,000.
Hergert was denied bail since his arrest in January by detectives from the Luzerne County district attorney's office on allegations he stalked five women inside and outside Planet Fitness in the Gateway Shopping Center, Edwardsville, and at Crunch Fitness near the Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre Township in 2024, according to court records.
Court records say Hergert initiated conversations with the women, waited for the women outside the fitness facilities and approached their vehicles as they parked or drove away. Conversations Hergert allegedly initiated usually involved the women's relationships.
During the bail hearing Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Adam W. Bompadre opposed bail citing the numerous closed and active criminal cases of stalking women in multiple states.
"We would ask for no bail or bail be set at $250,000," Bompadre aid. "If he was given bail, we're going to be looking for him."
Before setting bail, Lupas acknowledged Hergert has a right to bail. If Hergert does post $300,000 bail, Lupas ordered him to be supervised with electronic monitoring.
Hergert went on a tirade, calling everyone a "joke," and claimed he lost 50 pounds since his arrest in January. He also noted he is a U.S. Navy veteran and traveled to multiple states for employment.
Hergert's trial on two counts of stalking and three counts of harassment is scheduled in June.
Court records say Herbert, in 2012, who resided on Madison Street, Wilkes-Barre, at the time, was charged with stalking a woman when she attended Mass at a South Wilkes-Barre church and at her place of employment on Carey Avenue, Wilkes-Barre. Herbert was sentenced in October 2012 to one to three years in state prison on stalking and harassment charges.
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