PHOENIX — A Baghdad man was incarcerated last week on suspicion of stalking an underage boy, according to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.
The boy’s mother called authorities around 6:30 p.m. Saturday to report that the driver of the red Ford Explorer had tried to force her son into the car. It wasn’t the first time she had contacted authorities.
Two days ago, she called the police about the same vehicle. According to a press release, a man approached his son and friend, told them they were going to be kidnapped, and chased them home.
In the first incident, officers were unable to locate the vehicle. But at 5:30 p.m., her mother reported to authorities that the suspect, Michael Helen, 35, was trying to stop the car and talk to her son.
The boy’s brother said he heard someone say “hey buddy” in the car. The boy’s brother yelled at him to run away, the release said.
After the children warned the mother of the collision, she got into her car and followed it, eventually losing sight of it on Camp Wood Road.
Authorities said they had spotted the vehicle on the same road later that day and had launched a chase.
As the car stopped, the sheriff’s deputy approached the driver and told him that the sheriff’s office had received a report of a car matching his description and speeding through town. The driver denied speeding, according to a press release.
Another police officer at the scene took a picture of the car and texted the mother. She identified the car and described her suspect.
This account was consistent with Mr. Herron, at which point the agent informed him that Mr. Herron was in custody.
Lawmakers also sent a picture of Heron to his mother, who identified him as the man who frightened her son.
Herron is being held on a fifth-degree felony charge of stalking.
