Kannapolis teen faces additional stalking charge, $100,000 bond

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 2, 2009

By Frank DeLoache
Salisbury Post
KANNAPOLIS ó A little more than a week after he was charged with stalking a teenage girl and her mother, a 19-year-old man drove by their house and made “obscene gestures” toward them, according to a Kannapolis police report.
Two days later ó early Monday morning ó the young man phoned the girl’s home, calling her names and terrifying her, she told an officer.
Later Monday morning, police arrested Christian Daniel Dupree Ford, of 144 Beaumont Ave., on an additional charge of misdemeanor stalking, and a magistrate increased his bail from $10,000 to $100,000.
He remained in the Cabarrus County Jail Monday night.
Monday evening, a woman who identified herself as Ford’s grandmother said she did not want to comment on the charges. The Pethels could not be reached for comment.
According to initial Kannapolis police reports, Amber Pethel, 19, and her mother, Shelby Pethel, 53, said Ford had come to their home and Amber Pethel’s workplace repeatedly.
When the Pethels asked police for help, Kannapolis officers escorted Amber Pethel to work on May 7 and home again when she got off sometime around 1:30 a.m. May 8.
When the girl arrived home, she saw Ford waiting in a car parked near her home.
Officers arrested Ford and charged him with two counts of misdemeanor stalking and a single count of communicating threats.
He also was charged with failure to appear on an unrelated charge of driving with a revoked license.
He posted a $10,000 bond and was released the same day, according to jail records.
According to a police incident log, Amber and Shelby Pethel called again about 9 p.m. Saturday. They had seen Ford drive by their home while “making obscene gestures.”
The police log provides no more information about that incident, but at 2:45 a.m. Monday, the Pethels told police Ford called their home.
He was “calling her names and putting her in fear,” according to a police log, which lists the teenager and her mother as victims.
Ford is scheduled to appear in court July 17 on all the charges, according to the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office Web site.
The Web site also shows Ford was arrested during an incident on May 24, 2007, and charged with carrying a concealed weapon, reckless driving to endanger, failure to stop for an accident involving property damage and failure to wear his seat belt.
The Web site does not indicate the outcome of those charges.