East Prairie man suspected of stalking, victim tampering

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- An East Prairie, Missouri man faces charges after making more than 160 phone calls to a victim in a 30-hour period.

David Lee Turner, 31, is charged with tampering with a victim in a felony prosecution, aggravated stalking, first offense, and violating an order of protection, second offense, all felonies.

Mississippi County Sheriff Keith Moore said the investigation began Monday, when deputy Cory Hutcheson received a complaint that Turner had violated an order of protection entered by the Mississippi County courts.

The complainant provided evidence of threats made by Turner toward the protected party and indicated Turner had stalked the protected person as recently as earlier that day, Moore said in a news release.

During the investigation, Hutcheson found Turner was arrested for violating the same order the week before, so the protected party was now also a victim/witness in a criminal prosecution pending against Turner.

With the victim's cooperation, officers obtained records from the phone company, establishing that Turner's cellphone had placed more than 160 calls to the protected party in the preceding 30 hours.

" ... Information gathered throughout the investigation indicated Mr. Turner placed at least some of the calls in an attempt to persuade the call recipient to not testify against him in his upcoming court proceedings," Moore said.

The sheriff said that under state law, a person convicted of victim tampering is not eligible for parole.