Shawn Johnson Stalker Sent to Mental Hospital
Robert O'Ryan was arrested last year after police found loaded handguns, a bulletproof vest and duct tape in his car.
Shawn Johnson, Robert O'Ryan (Getty Images/KTLA-TV)
LOS ANGELES -- A man accused of stalking Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Shawn Johnson has been sent to a mental hospital.
Robert O'Ryan previously was found to be legally insane when he broke onto the studio lot where the Olympic gold medalist was performing last year on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."
The judge's order to send O'Ryan to a hospital for a period of 5 years came after a medical evaluation.
During trial, prosecutors said O'Ryan harbored a dangerous obsession to meet and marry the 18-year-old gymnast.
Johnson said she remembers practicing for 'Dancing with the Stars' at the CBS studios when someone asked her if Robert O'Ryan was on her guest list.
She said no and then noticed her mother and agent were gone.
She immediately knew something was wrong.
A few minutes later, police told her O'Ryan had been arrested.
A knife and other weapons, including a shotgun were found in O'Ryan's car.
Johnson testified she was told O'Ryan informed an Alabama police officer that he was going to marry her and she was the mother of his unborn child.
"I didn't know him," Johnson said. "He was a stranger to me. To see somebody had that much kind of obsession, it made me really scared."
She said she got a body guard after the incident, considered leaving the show and canceled her public appearances.
Johnson told the judge that the incident "scared her to death" and it still haunts her today.
His defense attorney, Judith Greenberg argued O'Ryan, who holds degrees in physics and mechanical engineering, experienced auditory hallucinations that compelled him to drive to Los Angeles to meet and protect Johnson.
She noted that he never intended to use the two guns stored in his car in an "offensive manner."
A tape was played in court of O'Ryan's interview with police, in which he told detectives he heard voices in his head, including those of Shawn Johnson, Ludicris, Steve O, rapper Little John and "Dancing with the Stars" host Tom Bergeron.
Johnson, a native of Iowa, won a gold medal and three silver medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Robert O'Ryan previously was found to be legally insane when he broke onto the studio lot where the Olympic gold medalist was performing last year on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."
The judge's order to send O'Ryan to a hospital for a period of 5 years came after a medical evaluation.
During trial, prosecutors said O'Ryan harbored a dangerous obsession to meet and marry the 18-year-old gymnast.
Johnson said she remembers practicing for 'Dancing with the Stars' at the CBS studios when someone asked her if Robert O'Ryan was on her guest list.
She said no and then noticed her mother and agent were gone.
She immediately knew something was wrong.
A few minutes later, police told her O'Ryan had been arrested.
A knife and other weapons, including a shotgun were found in O'Ryan's car.
Johnson testified she was told O'Ryan informed an Alabama police officer that he was going to marry her and she was the mother of his unborn child.
"I didn't know him," Johnson said. "He was a stranger to me. To see somebody had that much kind of obsession, it made me really scared."
She said she got a body guard after the incident, considered leaving the show and canceled her public appearances.
Johnson told the judge that the incident "scared her to death" and it still haunts her today.
His defense attorney, Judith Greenberg argued O'Ryan, who holds degrees in physics and mechanical engineering, experienced auditory hallucinations that compelled him to drive to Los Angeles to meet and protect Johnson.
She noted that he never intended to use the two guns stored in his car in an "offensive manner."
A tape was played in court of O'Ryan's interview with police, in which he told detectives he heard voices in his head, including those of Shawn Johnson, Ludicris, Steve O, rapper Little John and "Dancing with the Stars" host Tom Bergeron.
Johnson, a native of Iowa, won a gold medal and three silver medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
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