What is a person supposed to do when they count on the authorities to protect them from harm, but that authority figure uses their professional tools to in fact HARM them? This is exactly what happened in Helena, MT.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn
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Ricky James Shelbourn, a former Montana FBI Agent, was recently found guilty of stalking his ex-girlfriend (misdemeanor charges) and obstructing the officers that were investigating the allegations of his stalking.

From 2009-2010, Shelbourn worked as an FBI Special Agent in Helena, investigating violent crimes, including murder for hire. In 2014, Shelbourn moved into the position of supervisor of the five FBI offices in western Montana.

On March 16th, 2020, Shelbourn was arrested on the charges. He was apparently:

obsessing about the woman and unwilling to let their relationship end- Bruce McDermott (Helenair)

The victim and Shelbourn had dated for a period of time, eventually breaking things off, which is when the three years of stalking began. Shelbourn told authorities that he was protecting the woman from "another man" and that he continuously monitored and followed the woman, for her protection.

Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash
Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash
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One question to be asked is, is Shelbourn still currently on the payroll and working as an "active" FBI agent? I would like to think that after the guilty verdict came back he would be stripped of any and all authority. As far as I could find, there was no actual confirmation nor denial of his firing. As of August of this year, his LinkedIn profile was changed to "retired".

Shelbourn is scheduled to have his sentencing hearing at 8:30 AM on December 14th of this year. This will take place in Municipal Court in Montana.

cc: Helenair

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