Man Convicted Of Stalking Gold Medalist Shawn Johnson

A 36-year-old Florida man was convicted today of stalking Olympic gold-medal-winning gymnast and “Dancing with the Stars” champion Shawn Johnson.

Robert Michael O’Ryan, who had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, was then found legally insane by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael E. Pastor.

Pastor ordered that O’Ryan be evaluated by the county Department of Mental Health. The judge scheduled another hearing for July 13.

O’Ryan was convicted in the non-jury trial of felony stalking and commercial burglary, along with two misdemeanor counts of carrying a loaded firearm in his vehicle within the city limits. He was arrested March 23, 2009, after hopping the fence at the CBS studio where the dancing competition show was being filmed and telling security officers that he was there to see Johnson.

Johnson, 18, testified Thursday that she was forced to cancel public appearances and limit her movements after O’Ryan was arrested. She said she remains “very much” scared to this day.

“To see that somebody had that much obsession, it made me really scared,” she testified.

She testified that she learned of the arrest from her parents, her agent and a Los Angeles police detective after she completed filming that day.

“They didn’t want to scare me,” she said. “Of course, it did.”

Johnson said she was told O’Ryan had two guns, a knife and zip-ties in his car.

“We had thought about leaving the show, and moving home if it was necessary,” Johnson said.

She said she canceled some appearances and didn’t go to the same restaurants.

“We had kind of changed everything,” she said. “I was told I couldn’t go shopping or basically (to) public places.”

She said she got a different car and her agent stayed with her and her family because she was scared.

Deputy Public Defender Judith Greenberg argued that there was “no evidence that my client stalked” Johnson and no proof that he intended to harm the gymnast.

Greenberg told the judge that O’Ryan — who had earned degrees in physics and mechanical engineering — experienced auditory hallucinations, with his delusions compelling him to drive to Los Angeles to meet and protect Johnson.

She noted that he was dressed in a suit and not armed with a weapon when he went to the television studio, and said he never intended to use the two guns stored in his car in an “offensive manner.”

O’Ryan faces up to three years and eight months in state prison and an additional two years in county jail if he is found sane, according to the judge.

Pastor warned the defendant that he could spend the rest of his life in a state mental hospital if he is found insane.