Man Charged for Stalking Ex-'American Idol'

Man Charged for Stalking Ex-'American Idol'

By Associated Press
17 minutes ago

TAMPA, Fla. - A California man stalked a former "American Idol" contestant, sending her threatening voice mail messages and showing up at her grandmother's Florida house uninvited, authorities charged.

Daniel Robert Young, 59, was being held without bond after his arrest Tuesday.

Police said Young had placed at least 38 voice mail messages since mid-September to former "AI" top-ten finalist Jessica Sierra, police said.

In the calls, police said, he told Sierra, 20, that he loves her and was willing to go to jail for her. He sent her a necklace, a bracelet and dozens of long-stemmed roses after seeing her singing on the Fox talent show, police said.

"It was like the more I stopped answering my phone and stopped talking to him, he got even more mad," Sierra said. "He was like, `Answer your damn phone when I call you.'"

Sierra, a Tampa native, appeared on the show last year.

When he arrived in Tampa on Tuesday from California, Young called Sierra's cell phone twice and asked her to pick him up, a police spokeswoman said.

"I told him, `I'm not coming to pick you up,'" Sierra said. "He said, `If you don't come pick me up, I'm taking a cab to your grandparents' house.'"

Sierra then alerted police, who met Young at the home, the police spokeswoman said.

Young was booked into jail Tuesday with bail set at $500 on the misdemeanor stalking charge, which is punishable by up to a year in prison.

But Wednesday, a judge revoked the bail after a prosecutor said Young had two prior arrests for violent crimes in California. It was not immediately known if Young had an attorney.

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