On Sunday evening, a 25-year-old man from South Florida named Peter Paul William Ferrero climbed down from the Palin family's third-floor balcony, approached an arriving Bristol Palin in the driveway, took off his sunglasses, and proceeded to tell the terrified 23-year-old reality television star and oldest daughter of the failed vice-presidential candidate that he wanted to speak with her, Alaska Dispatch News reported yesterday.
Palin, who had her five-year-old son Tripp with her, told Ferrero to back off, Wasilla police say, but Ferrero "continued to approach her," the newspaper reported. The affidavit added, "Ferrero said he wanted to have ten minutes of Palin's time to explain his issues to her."
Instead, the registered Democrat from Southwest Ranches was arrested for stalking.
Public records show Ferrero was charged in 2007 with fleeing and eluding a police officer. (Adjudication was withheld on the felony charge when he later plead no contest.) He was also convicted of aggravated stalking in 2009, according to the Dispatch News, although the conviction does not appear to have taken place in Broward County.
Ferrero had fled Florida north to "live the Alaska life," according to the police affidavit, and had already sent Palin "approximately 1000 Facebook messages" by the time he encountered her in the driveway. Upon finding Palin he told her his name was "Peter Paul," the newspaper reported; he was arrested several minutes later, after Palin ran across the street to call 911, and he was subsequently charged with felony stalking. The Dispatch News reported that he had also previously contacted Bristol's younger sister Willow.
Bristol Palin, after becoming a spokesperson for teen pregnancy prevention groups following the 2008 birth of Tripp, appeared as a contestant on Dancing With the Stars in 2010 and later published a memoir.
Riptide's call to a number associated with Ferrero's Southwest Ranches address was not answered.
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