Creep Alert

Arrest & relief? With her stalker on the loose, local TV news star feared forher life

Houston police officers arrested a Friendswood man accused of stalking local television anchor Jennifer Reyna.

According to an arrest warrant filed last week, Christopher Marcus Olson, 38, has been stalking KPRC Channel 2's Reyna since Sept. 14, violating multiple restraining orders.

Police arrested Olson at his apartment on Wednesday and bail has been set at $80,000, marking the latest development in a long harassment saga.

Olson drove his vehicle through the front door of the station's studios twice in May 2007, leading to the first no-contact order. In 2010, he served a one-year prison sentence on charges of harassment, and a second restraining order was issued.

On Nov. 16, Reyna went to a Mercedes dealership to get her car washed and preceded to notice that Olson had followed her from the news station.

The first of the recent incidents took place on Sept. 14, when Reyna was leaving work and noticed Olson sitting outside of a gas station located down the street. She made an immediate U-Turn and returned to the Channel 2 office, notifying news director Rick McFarland who then called the police.

On Nov. 16, Reyna went to a Mercedes dealership to get her car washed and noticed that Olson had followed her from the news station. She drove away without him noticing, but two weeks later, he attempted to follow her from the station again. Reyna lost him in traffic.

On Dec. 6, a Channel 2 security guard noted that Olson was waiting in an adjacent parking lot. The following day, Reyna noticed Olson following her home from work once again, and led him to a nearby police station. He immediately sped away before Reyna was able to explain the situation to officers.

Reyna spotted Olson around the news station in multiple other instances. On Dec. 14, when she arrived at 4:15 a.m., Olson exited his vehicle in the adjacent parking lot and began shouting Reyna’s name through the fence. A security guard instructed Olson to leave.

An hour later, Reyna received a phone call at work from Olson, who somehow managed to bypass the phone screener.

"Based on the documented incidents of the defendant following the complainant and waiting for the complainant outside of her place of employment, she is in fear of her life,” the arrest warrant read.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”