BEAUMONT — A local conservative blogger and one-time Republican candidate for Hardin County judge has been arrested on a stalking charge.

David Michael Bellow Jr., 32, of Lumberton was indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury last week and arrested on Wednesday, Tommy Turner, with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office, said.

Turner said this is the county’s first stalking charge where the suspect used new technology in the alleged crime.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Bellow had placed a tracking device on his estranged wife’s vehicle and on at least three occasions showed up where she was; and at one point told her via text message that he was following her.

Bellow and his estranged wife, Courtney, have been separated for two years and she filed for divorce in April 2014. She told investigators she has had continual problems with her estranged husband and that he always seemed to know where she was even though they did not live together.

Then, on March 1, a tracking device was located on her vehicle and “documents have shown that David Bellow was the purchaser of that tracking device,” according to the document.

Records show, through his email account, that the tracker had been monitored and from Jan. 1, 2016 to March 1, 2016, there were a total of 3,164 “pings” where the trackers location was searched using Bellow’s email account.

Bellow and his estranged wife have been embroiled in a custody issue, according to his Facebook page, “Stand with David Against Political Corruption and Child Abuse Against Son.”

The charge of stalking is a third degree felony.

An indictment is not a final conviction of guilt; it is only a ruling by the grant jury that allows the district attorney’s office to proceed with a criminal case.

Mary Meaux: 409-721-2429

Twitter: @MaryMeauxPANews