Stalker Arrested At WABC

(From The New York Post -- By Philip Messing And Stefanie Cohen)

A deranged stalker who threatened to "ethnically cleanse" popular WABC-TV anchorwoman MICHELLE CHARLESWORTH was busted yesterday after he was found lurking outside the station's West Side studios, authorities said.

Burly suspect JOSE RIOFRIO was waiting for Charlesworth after her WABC morning newscast, sources said.

But an alert security guard -- a former NYPD officer -- recognized the 5-foot-7, 220-pound man from photos he'd sent to Charlesworth, and grabbed him. The guard then held him until police arrived.

"Our security is to be commended," said JEFFERY SCHNEIDER, a spokesman for ABC.

"(The guard) did a heroic job recognizing and apprehending this guy. It's obviously a frightening situation."

Police arrested Riofrio around 9 am, when Charlesworth would normally have been leaving the building on West 67th Street. But because of a scheduling change, she was still on the air.

Riofrio, who's homeless, has a criminal record in New Jersey, police said.

Riofrio, who has been in and out of mental institutions, became enamored of the pretty newswoman's stage presence months ago and began writing to her, according to a source at the station.

Thinking she was receiving harmless fan mail, Charlesworth initially wrote back and included a picture of herself, the source said.

But Riofrio's attention then escalated to frightening levels, sources said.

He began sending letters to the anchorwoman that grew more and more threatening, one source said.

In one note, the suspect said he wanted to "ethnically cleanse" Charlesworth, according to a law-enforcement source, although it's unclear what that meant.

Many of his letters were incomprehensible.

On occasion, he waited for his love interest outside the studios, the station source said.

Charlesworth took out a restraining against Riofrio in January.

Sources say ABC also provided her with security escorts as she came and left the studio.

NYPD had trouble tracking down Riofrio because privacy laws prevented them from searching the databases of city psych wards, according to a police source.

"There is a really heroic security guard who works at ABC," said a friend of Charlesworth, who added that the suspect hardly resembled the pictures he'd sent to Charlesworth.