Suspect arrested in Foley stabbing case has violent history
FOLEY, Ala. (WKRG) — Foley Mayor Ralph Hellmich is the first to tell you his city is one of the safest in the county and calls this random crime both disturbing and discouraging.
News came over the weekend an entire community had been waiting to hear: the arrest of Bernard Abney.
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He is now back in a familiar place, behind bars, but not for an attack on a jogger near Heritage Park in Foley. He turned himself in to authorities in Mobile for failing to register as a sex offender in connection to a 2003 rape case that he plead guilty to in 2005.
“It’s very disturbing to us when something like that happens being a small town, and it brings home the fact that crime is everywhere,” Hellmich said.
The Foley Mayor said that this crime and this suspect are even more unsettling because Abney was part of an early release program last year that cut time off of his 20-year prison sentence for the rape of a 14-year-old in Mobile.
According to court records, about a month after his release from prison, he was arrested again in Mobile for failing to register as a sex offender and was released on $2,500 bond.
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Somewhere between then and now, Abney made his way to Baldwin County and was living on the streets according to police. Last Wednesday night, police said he claimed another victim. A jogger who was stabbed multiple times.
“Once again a person who probably shouldn’t be out on the streets is back on the streets for whatever reason and has committed a crime of a worse magnitude or similar to what they did before,” Hellmich said.
The city will increase patrols and add lighting to the trail where this attack happened. Hellmich said the bigger problem will be fixing a system that allows this to happen.
The victim is out of the hospital and recovering. Abney remains in Mobile Metro Jail awaiting a preliminary hearing next month. This time, he’s being held without bond.
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