Port: Statehouse stalker terminated from North Dakota Department of Health position

MINOT — Cory Pedersen, the state employee whose convictions for stalking a colleague and violating a protection order at the Capitol I first detailed in November 2025, has been fired by the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services. The termination of employment comes after Pedersen's probation in the latter case was revoked. A condition of that probation was that Pedersen have no contact with Heather Traynor, a former girlfriend and the victim in the matter. An affidavit filed by Traynor in that matter, which I reported previously, alleged 358 contacts from Pedersen on Traynor's phone over a 10-month period after she had indicated she no longer wished to speak to him. He also sent five packages, notes and cards to her home. During a 10-week span following their breakup, Pedersen also sent emails, one of which contained an extremely intimate video of himself and Traynor having sex, with the subject line "thanks." Pedersen's actions created tension at the Capit