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Woman charged with stalking

Police find her in bed in the home of a lawyer who didn't rehire her.

By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published December 1, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT Kimberly Dawn Moore was being held without bail Thursday.

TAMPA - For five years, while defending high-profile clients like Debra Lafave, attorney John Fitzgibbons has endured harassment from a woman with a history of petty crimes and mental illness.

She sent cards and gifts and a cell phone for him to call her. She showed up at his Harbour Island home with a bottle of wine. She told people she was his girlfriend. In truth, she was no more than a temporary worker at his law office who didn't get rehired after her behavior got creepy.

This week, the situation turned downright scary.

Fitzgibbons, 56, was in Washington, D.C., Tuesday on business. He checked his home voice mail. Five messages from her, the last one chilling: "Your doors are open, and I'm in your house."

When Tampa police arrived, Kimberly Dawn Moore was in Fitzgibbons' bed. They arrested her on misdemeanor charges of trespassing and stalking. Because Moore, 33, of Lutz had a pending petty theft charge stemming from a grocery store shoplifting in October, Circuit Judge Walter Heinrich ordered Thursday that she be held without bail.

Fitzgibbons had left his house unlocked for his cleaning service. "I don't wish her evil," he said. "I just want her to leave me alone."

When medicated for bipolar disorder, Moore is sweet and successful, said her mother, Judy Moore.

But off her medication, she shoplifts and writes bad checks. Since 2002, she has been arrested 10 times in Florida for mostly petty crimes.

Fitzgibbons said they never dated and barely spoke during her short employment with his firm. In August 2002, he got a restraining order against her.

Colleen Jenkins can be reached at 813 226-3337 or cjenkins@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 1, 2006, 06:16:45]