LONGVIEW — A Vancouver man who threatened to kidnap a family’s two adolescent daughters has pleaded guilty to stalking charges in Cowlitz County Superior Court.
Eric David Platt on Thursday pleaded guilty to felony stalking (domestic violence), felony harassment and misdemeanor harassment. Platt, 47, also pleaded guilty to communicating with a minor for immoral purposes, which will require registration as a sex offender.
Platt was arrested on Feb. 10, 2014, after the Woodland family reported finding him on their property with a video camera outside their older daughter’s bedroom window. The family’s father told Cowlitz County sheriff’s deputies that Platt had made threats about taking the family’s two girls, including “hand over the girls or he was going to shoot,” according to court records. The father also said he thought Platt had fired a gun several times after leaving the property, court records show.
According to the family, Platt became erratic, controlling and obsessed with their daughters, who were 12 and 14 at the time, when the family was living with him in Vancouver. Despite moving out of the area, the family said Platt continued to contact them, leaving dozens of messages on Facebook and calling family and friends to find where they had moved.
