ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 17, 1996 TAG: 9604170035
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County sheriff's deputies arrested a 79-year-old Blacksburg man Tuesday and charged him with stalking after he again followed elementary school girls in his car and offered them rides, officials said.
Sheriff Doug Marrs said his deputies twice hand-delivered letters to Charles Frederick Yonker telling him to stop following the children or he would "be charged for any and all laws you have violated."
Despite the warnings, Yonker continued following a school bus from Margaret Beeks Elementary School in Blacksburg into the Ellett Valley where the children live, Marrs said.
Lt. Tommy Whitt said the Sheriff's Office received a first complaint Feb. 29 and talked with Yonker.
Deputies observed Yonker watching and talking to children from his car at Ellett Valley Food Time on Lusters Gate Road, and on Misty Hills Circle near the Blacksburg Country Club, Marrs said.
The next complaint came March 28 and was followed by two more, Whitt said. Deputies arrested Yonker April 9 on a charge of stalking. Marrs said Yonker was released on $5,000 bond.
Deputies arrested Yonker again Tuesday and charged him with two more counts of stalking, Marrs said. Three children were involved in the incident Tuesday, Marrs said.
Yonker is being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail until his arraignment today on the second and third charges. A May 16 court date was set for the first charge.
A first offense of stalking is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and up to $1,000 fine. A second conviction, still a misdemeanor, raises the penalty to up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500. A third conviction is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. State law defines stalking as any time a person more than once harasses another to the point that person fears death, bodily injury or criminal sexual assault.
Yonker drives a black 1989 Buick Regal with police scanners and binoculars in the car, Marrs said. He is 6-foot-2 and weighs 225 pounds. Marrs said anyone who sees someone fitting that description following any school bus or talking with children should contact the Sheriff's Office at 382-2951.
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