A New Orleans police officer accused of stalking appeared in court Thursday and was ordered held without bond pdning another court hearing on Monday.
Kaja Rhea faces more than 30 counts, including stalking, obscene phone calls, and violating a protective order, WDSU reported.
The police department said that Rhea had been reassigned to administrative duties while the case was under investigation.
As reported by NOLA.com, Rhea, a 25-year-old special operations officer, is accused of initiating a “dangerous escalation” of harassment towards his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend on Valentine’s Day after she shared a photo of herself with her new partner. According to an arrest warrant, Rhea supposedly stalked the boyfriend in his police vehicle and later attempted to provoke a fight with him in Kenner.
Law enforcement officials state that Rhea surveilled the man’s home and tailed him in the early hours of February 23, following texts he had sent questioning the boyfriend’s association with the ex-girlfriend and whether he resided on Canal Street, as outlined in a warrant issued for the officer’s arrest.
A month following these incidents, Rhea dared the boyfriend to a physical altercation in Kenner, but the challenge was turned down. Allegedly, Rhea approached his victim in a threatening manner, urging him to step outside and “handle business” while hurling insults, such as branding him a coward, according to an affidavit. Furthermore, he reportedly accosted his ex at her workplace, took her phone, and utilized it to dispatch “harassing messages” to the boyfriend.
Rhea was initially arrested on March 26 on a single count of stalking. He was released on his own recognizance at that time but was rearrested this week on multiple counts.
The judge on Thursday caution Rhea to abide by the protective order, should he be released, barring him from contact with either of his victims or their families and told him not to own or possess any weapons.
Rhea was a police recruit in 2021. He was previously disciplined for failing to write a report about an aggravated assault in December 2022.
