Bail Upped For Kournikova Stalker

A judge increased the bail on a homeless man accused of stalking tennis star Anna Kournikova to $250,000 Friday, saying she was worried about his mental state.

William Lepeska was arrested Jan. 30 after police said he swam nude across Biscayne Bay in search of Kournikova's $5 million house on Miami Beach's Sunset Island 3. He was arrested naked in a neighbor's pool area.

Circuit Court Judge Diane Ward increased Lepeska's bail from $50,000, saying she was concerned because Lepeska was showing signs of instability and possibly delusional thinking.

"We are trying to protect the community. We consider him a threat," prosecutor Peta Fancy-Jackson said.
Fancy-Jackson told the judge Lepeska was convicted of first-degree reckless injury in Milwaukee for stabbing a sleeping college student. He was imprisoned from 1995 to 2000. In late 2001, he was returned to prison for eight months for violating his probation.

Kournikova's civil lawyer Dan Gelber read from the Milwaukee police report that the reason he had committed the act was "to appease the power of evil."

Lepeska is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 22.