Texas Tech Student Arrested for Stalking Ex After Campus Ban

LUBBOCK, TX — A Texas Tech student was arrested after repeatedly stalking and harassing his ex-girlfriend, also a student at the university. Police say the arrest followed a Title IX no-contact order issued against him after a prior assault and harassment incident.

According to court documents, the victim reported Kaleb De La Garza, 21, to the Lubbock Police Department on April 29, after an ongoing harassment and a previous incident of assault. The two had reportedly been in a relationship that ended in January 2025.

In a prior case on February 2, De La Garza allegedly forced his way into the victim’s apartment and assaulted her. That incident resulted in a Title IX complaint filed with Texas Tech, which led to the university issuing a criminal trespass warning against De La Garza, barring him from campus and requiring him to attend classes remotely.

Following the complaint, on April 30, De La Garza allegedly contacted the victim and threatened to share intimate photos and videos of her unless she dropped the charges and Title IX complaint. The victim agreed to meet with him to delete the material. However, investigators say De La Garza later admitted to recovering, or possibly never deleting, the photos and videos, and continued to threaten her.

The victim informed detectives that he hounded her with frequent phone calls that led her to block his number. Court documents state that De La Garza no longer lived in Lubbock and lived with his parents in the San Antonio area.

While detectives interviewed the victim, she temporarily unblocked De La Garza’s phone number to see if he would attempt to contact her. He did call, and detectives monitored the conversation. During the call, De La Garza told the victim he was on his way to Lubbock to see her.

The victim made it very clear she did not want to see him and told him to leave her alone. Court documents state De La Garza sounded as if he was already traveling on the highway during the call. The victim chose to spend the night at a friend’s place instead, scared he might find her at her apartment.

The victim later called the detective on the case and told him that De La Garza had found her car parked at a friend’s apartment and was waiting nearby. When she unknowingly went outside to get something from her vehicle, he approached her, but she managed to get back inside safely and later slipped out unnoticed to attend class. Scared that he might find her on campus, the victim grew concerned, and the detective on the case assured her he was already working on an arrest warrant. The detective asked the LPD Violent Crimes Unit to locate De La Garza and keep surveillance on him until the warrant was secured.

Lubbock Police’s VCU began a covert surveillance of De La Garza. Officers observed him driving to Lowe’s Home Improvement and purchasing items, later returning to the apartment complex where the victim was staying. He remained in the area for some time before driving to several other locations in Lubbock and meeting with two other men.

Surveillance later showed De La Garza entering a grey Ford F-150 with the two men at the 1300 block of 48th Street and heading toward the Texas Tech campus despite the active criminal trespass warning. The vehicle was eventually stopped by police near where the victim was attending class, around the time her class was scheduled to end.

Due to De La Garza’s prior behavior, the repeated nature of the alleged harassment, and his presence on campus despite being banned, police determined there was probable cause for the stalking charge and apprehended him at the 900 block of Flint Avenue.

He was transported to the Lubbock County Detention Center and booked for Stalking, Threat to Publish Intimate Visual Material, and Criminal Trespassing. He remains on a total bond of $127,500, $27,500 for the new charges, and $100,000 for the previous stalking warrant.