A 23-year-old man from Plano, previously arrested and convicted for stalking Southern Methodist University students, has been arrested again for allegedly harassing more female students.
Ian James Smith, who has a history of harassment dating back to 2021, was released from prison earlier this year. Since then, he has accumulated a total of eight more new charges.
In 2021, Smith was initially sentenced and convicted for making a terroristic threat, as well as for harassment and retaliation, according to a previous warning post from Southern Methodist University (SMU).
Yet according to a recent report from Fox 4 News, Smith targeted another female student with harassment in March and a second one just earlier this month, leading up to his arrest last week.
The man has been charged multiple times in the past few years for offenses including stalking, harassment, and online impersonation.
Despite never being a student at SMU, he has repeatedly harassed multiple female students on the campus, consistently using social media to make unwanted contact with victims as well as their friends and family, according to Fox 4.
In a recent instance reported on October 17, Smith allegedly harassed a student through Instagram and Snapchat, reaching out nonstop with messages and video calls. When an SMU detective intervened, instructing Smith to cut off any contact with the victim, he reportedly continued to reach out for two additional days.
SMU further detailed in its campus alert that when Smith was employed as a delivery driver, he engaged in cyber-stalking of multiple SMU students and tried to use a third party to intimidate a victim or witness after his prior arrest.
These multiple previous reports from students led to the campus-wide alert earlier this year informing the school’s community about the convicted felon’s history of targeting women in the area. The alert stated that on April 12, Smith was arrested in Carrollton and faced charges of harassment and stalking.
Smith’s latest arrest last week was also based on a misdemeanor charge of harassment. At the time, he was out on bond for his previous arrest.
According to records obtained by Fox 4, shortly after Smith was booked into the Dallas County Jail last Thursday, he posted a $10,000 bond and was released Tuesday.
