Contractor faces stalking charge for alleged harassment

A Middleton remodeling contractor was charged with stalking for allegedly harassing a prospective client who he told police had wasted his time.

The client told Madison police that someone had been repeatedly calling her from January 2012 until she called police on Aug. 9, 2013, the day after the caller told her that he was going to come to her home the next day and have sex with her.

Benjamin Luedtke, 27, was charged Wednesday with stalking for allegedly making the calls with his brother, who was not named in a criminal complaint that was filed in Dane County Circuit Court.

Luedtke appeared in court on Thursday and was given a signature bond. He was ordered not to have contact with the woman.

According to a criminal complaint:

The woman told Madison police Det. Peter Baio after receiving the Aug. 8 call that she had been getting calls that varied from someone whistling into the phone to someone swearing at her.

In one instance, she told Baio, she had come back to her home after walking her dog when the phone rang and the caller told her that when she walked her dog she should have a leash. That made her afraid that the caller was watching her.

Police used phone records to track down Luedtke, who admitted that he met the woman through his remodeling business, and that in 2012 and 2013 he made a number of harassing calls to her, but he denied telling her that he saw her with her dog.

The woman told Baio that she had contacted Luedtke for kitchen work after he was recommended by Menards.

She said Luedtke wanted to be paid upfront for his work, but she refused to pay him that way and she did not end up hiring him for the work.

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Contractor faces stalking charge for alleged harassment