Police: Threatening text messages land Alabama man in jail
NEW CASTLE, Ind. — An Alabama man is accused of sending death threats via text messages to his former girlfriend, who now lives in New Castle.
Quar' Damian D. Riddle, 21 — of Gadsden, Alabama, 55 miles northeast of Birmingham — was arrested by New Castle police on Saturday after they observed his car, with Alabama license plates, outside a local restaurant.
Police on Friday had been called to New Castle High School, where a counselor reported a 17-year-old student was receiving threatening text messages.
The teen said Riddle, the father of her infant son, had told her he intended to come to New Castle and kill her.
The girl said her family had moved from Alabama to New Castle to avoid contact with Riddle.
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Officers examined the girl's cellphone and reported finding several threats made by Riddle during his recent text exchanges with the teen.
Those disputes focused at times on Riddle's inability to visit their child and the girl's friendship with another teen from Gadsden.
"I swear to God, you can count your ------- days," Riddle allegedly told the girl in a Dec. 20 text message.
"I will shoot you," Riddle reportedly wrote in a Dec. 24 message.
I'm going to kill you," he allegedly texted the teen on Jan. 2.
A Jan. 5 message told the teen that Riddle had a reservation for a hotel room in Anderson the following night, and that she was a "dead b---h."
Riddle also reportedly sent the teen nude photographs of herself he had access to, and indicated he intended to send them to faculty members at the New Castle high school.
When he was arrested, Riddle told police he was in Indiana to visit his son and give another member of the teen's family a ride back to Alabama. A handgun was recovered from his car.
He reportedly acknowledged he at times threatened the girl, but said he never followed through with those threats.
The Alabama man was charged Monday in Henry Circuit Court 2 with two counts of intimidation, one a Level 5 felony carrying up to six years in prison and the other a misdemeanor.
He was also charged with misdemeanor counts of distribution of an intimate image and harassment.
Riddle continued to be held Tuesday in the Henry County jail under a $16,500 surety bond and a $1,500 cash bond.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Alabama man accused of sending threatening texts to New Castle teen
