Man Armed With Handgun Accused of Following Teen Home From High School

A frightening encounter for a Dacula teen ended with a 24-year-old Buford man being released on a traffic citation.

The 16-year-old female said she was walking to her car, which was parked in Dacula Park, from Dacula High School when she noticed a male sitting in a maroon GMC Sonoma who seemed to be watching her. The teen said she convinced herself the male was probably at the park to pick up another student. However, when she drove out of the park, she noticed the male was following her.

The teen turned onto Fence Road to head toward her house and noticed the male was still following in the Sonoma. Worried the man was actually going to follow her home, the teen pulled into the Mulberry Publix shopping center. The male followed her and parked in front of the Subway. After waiting for several minutes, the teen noticed the male had still not exited his vehicle. The teen pulled out of the parking lot and continued toward her subdivision. A few moments later, she saw the male drive past several cars in order to get behind her once more.

When the teen turned into her subdivision, the male did not immediately follow, but, soon thereafter, she spotted the Sonoma behind her vehicle. The teen pulled into her driveway and watched as the male drove by her house and turned around in the cul-de-sac. After the male drove back past her house, the teen waited a few moments and then got out of her car to get the mail.

"[The teen] said as she checked the mailbox she noticed the red truck driving back toward her and she got back into her car. [The teen] said the red truck turned around in the cul-de-sac and stopped at the end of her driveway," the officer wrote in the report.

The teen then called 911. When the officer arrived, the girl was "visibly upset." As the teen was talking to the officer, the male drove by her house yet again. The officer ran back to his patrol car and "drove quickly to catch up to the truck." After noticing the male was not wearing a seatbelt, the officer initiated a pullover. Before the male pulled over, the officer saw him lean over as if to conceal something in the passenger side of the vehicle.

As soon as the officer approached the vehicle, the male reportedly asked, "Why am I being pulled over?" The officer explained the reason for the stop and asked for the man's license. The male said he had done nothing wrong and was just looking for a friend's house.

The officer noticed a "moderate" odor of alcohol and asked the man to step out of the vehicle. When asked if he had any weapons on him, the man reportedly replied, "Not on me, but I got a 9mm inside the truck." The male did, however, have a fully loaded 9mm magazine in the pocket of his pants. 

When questioned by the officer, the male denied following the teen home from the park, but was unable to give consistent answers as to where he was going and where he had been. The officer noted in the report that the man seemed to be "making everything up." The officer asked for permission to search the man's vehicle and the man consented.

"I first opened the glove box and saw a KAHR small frame semi auto handgun inside an 'inside the waistband' holster. I picked up the weapon and it was warm to the touch which indicated to me it had been worn next to [the man's] body recently," the officer noted. "I looked inside the black book bag and there was a Natural lite beer inside that was cold. The beer had a plastic holder on it and 5 of the 6 portions were missing. Meaning 5 cans of the six pack of beer were gone."

Another officer conducted field sobriety tests and determined the man was just under the legal limit to drive.

"I explained to [the man] that the totality of the circumstances was concerning to me due to his drinking, carrying a gun, watching a young girl in the park, and then stalking her home. [The man] said it did seem suspicious but that he was just looking for a friend's house," the report stated.

Due to a lack of evidence of wrongdoing and inadequate proof of impaired driving, the man was released on a seatbelt violation citation and warned about his behavior.

The officer returned to the teen's house and explained the situation to the teen and her mother. The officer later checked with Dacula High School to see if the Buford man had ever attended school there. The officer was informed the man had attended school there, but had "departed" in 2007 without graduating.

The case is listed as active. 

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