Two Washington County residents are facing felony stalking charges after over 253 pictures were discovered of a protected party’s property. 

The two people that were arrested are 36-year-old Nicholas Smith of Wellman and 37-year-old Leah Hollenbeck of Brighton. 

The charges are for stalking and violation of a protective order, a class C felony, and the second was for conspiracy to commit a non-forcible felony, a class B felony. According to court records, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant to seize Smith’s cell phone and conduct a forensic download. Numerous messages about the protected party and pictures of protected parties’ homes were found on the device. Messages were exchanged between Smith and Hollenbeck related to the protected party and when they were home. 

Smith’s preliminary hearing was on February 10th, and a trial date of May 13th. Smith has entered a plea of not guilty. 

Hollenbeck waived her preliminary hearing and a date of February 21st was set for bond review and arraignment. As of this report, no plea has been made by Hollenbeck. 

KCII will bring you more information as it becomes official.