Man went to bizarre lengths to harass neighbor he suspected of having a black friend

A South Carolina man will spend 30 months in federal prison for stalking and harassing a former neighbor who he suspected of having a black friend, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Nathaniel Earl Dunlap, 30, had gone to bizarre lengths to torment former neighbor Linda Walter, who he lived by in the Pittsburgh suburb of Shaler.

Dunlap, who had a history of racist, sexist, homophobic and anti-Semitic comments, had targeted the woman "apparently because he believed she had a black friend."

Among Dunlap's antics were ordering food and taxis to her home, and twice calling police and reporting a hostage situation there. He also called her house 700 times, tying up her phone line and causing problems for her son's landscaping business.

At one point, Dunlap pretended that he was a missing college student named Dakota James, sending police to her home to look for him. The parents of James, who drowned in the Ohio River, thought their missing son was alive, only to have their hopes dashed.

Dunlap also harassed a Jewish doctor.

When police finally caught up to him and searched his home, they "found all manner of racist literature, jokes and other materials, as well as swastika pins and confederate pins, a loaded pistol, and a notebook which detailed his harassment plans against Ms. Walter and Dr. Berg and his wife."

They also found evidence that he had desecrated a mausoleum.

Dunlap's lawyer asked the judge to go easy on him because he is autistic and suffers from other mental health issues.

Dunlap had faced up to 17 years in prison on the charges.