Kornwell Chan of Dresher, Pa. is charged with burglary, criminal trespass, stalking and related offenses.
Prosecutors say Chan met the victim at the Oreland train station in mid-October, 2011.
"As often happens with commuters," said Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman, "he started striking up conversations with her."
Chan, a tech employee for a Philadelphia law firm, asked questions which at first seemed innocent: "What do you do?" "Where do you work?"
But the woman said as the weeks went by, the tone of the inquiries on the train platform bothered her.
"He was getting too familiar," said Ferman. "But he was also doing things I can only call creepy, things that made her very uncomfortable."
The victim told police she started changing where she parked in order to avoid Chan, whom she now considered obnoxious.
At one point she says Chan gave her a handmade Christmas card that included her full name, something she had never told him. Then over the holidays the victim's home was burglarized.
Springfield Township Police found the only thing taken was the victim's undergarments. But family photos were also placed face down, with the exception of a photo of the victim. That picture was left upright and moved onto the dining room table..
"That enhances the discomfort a victim would feel," said Ferman.
Police started looking at Chan, and what they found led to the stalking charge.
"They followed him undercover and saw him driving around looking for her," said Ferman. "And from phone records they found he was trying to call her." He dialed the woman's number nine times, prosecutors say, between Christmas and New Year's Day.
Chan was arrested Thursday. Bail has been set at $100,000 cash.
There was no answer Friday at the Dresher home Chan shares with his parents. Those who know the 37-year-old describe him as an introvert, who enjoys working on his cars.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next week in Oreland.
