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His 'Idol' worship lands him in jail

A California man is arrested in Tampa after tracking a contestant from the TV show down at her grandparents' home.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published January 19, 2006

	[FOX TV]
	Jessica Sierra made the final 10 on American Idol last season. "You always think something like that could happen, being in the public eye," she said.
	Daniel Robert Young, 59, was arrested as his cab reached the home of Sierra's grandparents. His $500 bail has been revoked.

TAMPA - The first phone call came in mid-September. A California man who said he was a music talent scout had an interest in Jessica Sierra, the fourth-season American Idol finalist.

But when Sierra returned a phone message, she quickly learned his intentions had nothing to do with her singing career.

Daniel Robert Young, 59, told Sierra he loved her and would do anything to be with her, according to Tampa police.

He started calling her cell phone six or seven times a day.

At Christmas, Young sent Sierra flowers, jewelry and a love note. Sierra, a 20-year-old Tampa native, recently got an apartment in Nashville, Tenn., and he called to say he was moving there, too, police say.

Ignoring him made things worse.

"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.' "

Authorities say Young flew Tuesday from California to Tampa, where Sierra was visiting with her grandparents. He took a United Cab to her grandparents' home, where police arrested him on one count of stalking, a misdemeanor.

Even as Young was handcuffed, he never took his eyes off Sierra.

"He was just staring at me the entire time, smiling," Sierra said. "He was mouthing "I love you.' "

Before the patrol car carted Young to the county jail, he turned to get one last look, according to Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy.

"He said she looked even more beautiful in person."

Young was booked into the jail Tuesday afternoon, his bail set at $500.

But Hillsborough Judge Walter Heinrich revoked the bail Wednesday morning after a prosecutor said Young had two prior arrests for violent crimes in California.

Young was charged with battery resulting in serious bodily injury in October 2005 and with assault with a firearm in 2001, the prosecutor said. The prosecutor didn't have details about those cases, so Heinrich ordered that Young be held until attorneys get more information, McElroy said. State records show Tuesday's arrest was Young's first in Florida.

He was born in California in 1946, and his driver's license lists a P.O. box address in Pearblossom, Calif.,. Records show he has lived in San Bernardino, Pasadena and Little Rock, Calif., since the mid-1980s.

Young told police he recently bought a house in Gainesboro, Tenn., to be closer to Sierra.

He is unemployed, according to county jail records. When police arrested him, they found a love letter for Sierra and $39 in his pocket, McElroy said.

The money wasn't even enough to cover his $46 cab fare to Sierra's grandparents' home.

Still, Young managed to get a cross-country plane ticket that brought him to Tampa on Tuesday morning, police said.

He called Sierra's cell phone and left a message that he was waiting for her to pick him up, Sierra said. She was sleeping when he called.

Later, while Sierra was out buying concert tickets with two friends, Young called to say he was at the Big Top Flea Market off E Fowler Avenue and needed her to come get him.

"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 and her friends drove by the flea market to see whether Young was really there, and they saw a man loading luggage into a cab, Sierra said.

Suspecting he might make good on his threat to visit her grandparents, she decided to follow the cab. As the cab made its way toward her grandparents' house, Sierra called to warn them.

"I was afraid," she said. "I didn't know what could happen."

She called police, but was initially put on hold, she said. She spotted a patrol car and deliberately cut it off in traffic. She told Officer Kelly Stead about Young, and Stead followed Sierra to her grandparents' house, McElroy said.

When the cab pulled up a few minutes later, Stead was waiting for Young.

The arrest was a relief for Sierra, who said she tried but failed to get a restraining order against Young in Nashville. She said she also contacted authorities in California, but they told her they couldn't do much unless Young harmed her.

She said she didn't get a new cell phone number because her contacts in the music business use it to keep in touch with her.

Sierra appeared on last year's season of American Idol and was one of its 10 finalists before being voted off the show.

Idol judge Simon Cowell has told reporters he deals with overzealous fans, but Sierra appears to be the first Idol contestant to be stalked.

"You always think something like that could happen, being in the public eye," Sierra said. "But then when it does happen, it really scares you.

"I'm still scared. He's going to be getting out. And he knows where my grandparents live."

Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at svansickler@sptimes.com or 813 226-3373.

Actor Rebecca Schaeffer, of the TV series My Sister Sam, was shot and killed in 1989 by fan Robert Bardo. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Tennis player Anna Kournikova was pursued by William Lepeska. He swam nude across Biscayne Bay in Miami and ended up on the pool deck of Kournikova's neighbor. In April he was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial and was sent to a mental facility for treatment.

Tennis player Monica Seles was attacked while resting during a quarterfinal match in Germany. Guenther Parche, a Steffi Graf fan, stabbed her in the back. She spent 27 months in recuperation, and he was set free after serving six months in prison.

David Letterman was stalked by Margaret Ray, who also showed up at the home of astronaut Story Musgrave. Ray committed suicide in 1998.

Sources: The Miami Herald, Associated Press, the Oregonian, Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald archives. Compiled by news researcher Carolyn Edds

[Last modified January 19, 2006, 01:49:14]