Billy Joel Hires Security to Protect his Daugher Alexa Ray from an Internet Stalker

Pop superstar Billy Joel teamed up with Beatles legend Paul McCartney in order to protect his daughter from a crazed stalker.

Joel's daughter, Alexa Ray, 27, was receiving threatening messages of rape and violence via Facebook and was reportedly afraid to leave her New York City apartment.  In order to protect Alexa, Joel hired a bodyguard and enlisted the services of a private security firm which were recommended by Paul McCartney.  As a result, the firm was able to identify the stalker that was terrifying the young singer/songwriter, the only daughter of Billy Joel and his ex-wife supermodel Christie Brinkley.

Authorities found the alleged stalker, 40-year-old Sheryl Finley, naked in the woods in Minnesota in January, the New York Post reported.   She was charged with using a fake Facebook account under the name "Rick Steenfield" to send Alexa more than 60 Facebook messages, some of which involved "pedophilia, sadistic sexual behavior, violent physical assaults and murder," according to court records.  She also had a record of spending time in a mental institution in 2010.  

According to the Post, Finley, told law enforcement that she didn't intend to act on the threats made in the messages "during this life," according to court records.

She had pleaded not guilty to the charges, and has a pre-trial hearing coming up in a few weeks.

Brad Garrett, ABC News consultant and former FBI agent, told ABC that many celebrity stalkers are driven by delusion.

"Delusion that they either have a relationship with the famous person. Or they desire one ...  You have to separate the vile, violent words to the ability of the person or even the motivation of the person to actually carry them out," he said.

The Joel family is not commenting on the case.