Blotter: Man charged with peeping in Bell Tower Green Park faces new crime

Published 11:35 am Wednesday, January 5, 2022

SALISBURY — A man already charged with watching a girl use the bathroom after a New Year’s Eve celebration in Bell Tower Green Park faces a new felony crime because of the incident.

Willie Bernard Donaldson, a 57-year-old Salisbury resident, faces a felony charge of sex offender unlawfully on premises. That’s in addition to a charge of secretly peeping into a room occupied by a female.

Donaldson allegedly watched a 14-year-old girl use the bathroom at Bell Tower Green Park 15 minutes after midnight on Saturday — just after the city’s New Year’s Eve celebration in the park. Donaldson looked over the stall wall while she was using the bathroom, according to the Salisbury Police Department.

State records show Donaldson was convicted in 2005 of attempted rape in Mecklenburg County — a charge for which he was required to register as a sex offender. State law prohibits registered sex offenders from being at any place where minors frequently congregate, including parks, when the minors are present. 

He was booked into the Rowan County Detention Center on a $1,500 bond for the peeping charge. The new charge added $2,000 to his total bond.

In Salisbury Police reports:

• A man on Tuesday reported a stolen gun in the 200 block of Morlan Park Road.

• FT Tobacco reported shoplifting Tuesday in the 600 block of East Innes Street.

• Walgreens on Tuesday reported shoplifting in the 1500 block of East Innes Street.

• A woman reported identity theft Tuesday in Salisbury.

• Catawba College on Wednesday reported a break-in in the 300 block of North Park Drive.

In Rowan County Sheriff’s Office reports:

• A woman on Monday reported a larceny resulting in an estimated loss of $1,675 from a building in the 7900 block of Woodleaf Road in Woodleaf.

• A man overdosed Monday in the 100 block of Ethel Lane in Salisbury.

• Xavier Jarrod Jordan, 19, was charged Monday with obtaining property by false pretenses in the 500 block of U.S. 29 in China Grove.

• Misty Paige Parson, 21, was charged Monday with possession of firearms by a felon in the 100 block of West Liberty Street in Salisbury.