I believe I have a stalker (my definition, not a legal one), let's call him Tom, who is trying to buy the house across the street from me through his father. What are my legal options? State of Illinois.

Here are the facts:
1) Tom has been sued for divorce from his wife, Mary, of 9 years. The divorce is pending. The grounds for the divorce filing are mental cruelty. He has beaten her a half a dozen times in the time they were together (including when she was pregnant with their son), and engaged in behavior that resulted in a high probability of HIV transmission to his wife (and possibly children by extension). He has also hidden assets from her in the divorce proceeding, and sold joint property without informing her or her attorney.

2) Tom and Mary have a young son, James, who is 14 months old. Tom also has an pre-teen daughter from a prior marriage who he has sole custody of.

3) Tom is living in the marital residence, which is valued in the low-$100's.

4) Tom's father is wealthy.

5) When Mary wanted to leave Tom, I let her stay at my house (I am male) for approximately 7 weeks until she found a place that she could afford to rent. She has subsequently moved out. I also made her a small personal loan because Tom controlled all of the marital finances and she had no money to support herself initially.

6) Tom has, since Mary moved out, broken her car mirror by punching it in anger after they had an argument one evening.

7) Tom has attempted to investigate me and has threatened, via Mary, to sue me for Alienation of Affection for breaking up their marriage. Tom has gained access to e-mail messages, had a complete history of the women I've dated in the past, and contacted at least one former coworker. Tom has indicated through Mary that he has photographs of me and Mary. All of this was allegedly done through an investigator, although access to the e-mail may have required visiting my home when I was not here and looking at my computer. He may have had access to a key to my house via either his wife or the nanny of their son.

8) Tom has been seen with his father looking at the property across the street (100' away) from my residence.

9) I have discussed the matter with my neighbors, and informed them that I would take any legal action possible to prevent the sale of the house. Their interest is in a quick sale.

10) Tom cannot purchase the property of his own means, becase the marital residence is not for sale yet (still in dissolution of marriage proceedings), and he has insufficient income to carry two residences.

11) The sellers indicated a high level of interest by Tom and his father in purchasing the house.

12) The house is priced well above market. It is for sale by owner. I do not have the means to buy it myself.

Question: is there any way I can prevent this man, who is obviously interested in this house in order to observe me (and Mary and her son if she's ever over here), and not for its intrinsic value, from purchasing (or having his father purchase so that Tom, his father, or a friend can live there and observe me) the house across the street from me?

NOTE: I do not care about the Alienation of Affection issue, for many reasons.

Quite a soap opera, I suppose.

Thanks for any help!

Is Tom doing anything which puts you in reasonable fear that he might physically harm you?

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