Alleged Ashanti Stalker Targeted Locals

Grifiith, Indiana - 31-year-old Griffith, Ind., man charged with sending dozens of lewd texts to the mother of Grammy-winning singer Ashanti once focused his unwanted attention on women closer to home.

Devar Hurd, who is awaiting trial at Rikers Island prison in New York on stalking and other charges, seemed unbalanced when he used to visit a Griffith hair salon to leer at a stylist.

"He always came off like he was mentally disturbed," said the woman, who asked that her name not be used for fear Hurd might renew his obsession with her.

"I never even cut his hair. I just worked at the salon where his barber was.

"He would come in and just stare at me. He tried to follow me home. He came to the salon."

Hurd, of the 1600 block of Arbogast Street in Griffith, Ind., was arrested in Indiana in July on stalking charges out of New York for allegedly sending dozens of lewd texts to the Grammy-winning singer's mother, Tina Douglas. Hurd could go to trial this month on charges of aggravated harassment and three counts of stalking.

In nearly 30 text messages sent to Douglas' phone, Hurd seems to carry on an apparently one-sided conversation about an imagined relationship with Ashanti.

Messages reprinted in a criminal complaint filed by New York prosecutors include crude sexual messages, musings on the music industry, Hurd's workout routine, and, on at least two occasions, pictures of male genitals.

"I had a nice dream about us shani," he wrote in June, according to the papers. "We was at your place and had a event and u was singing. I was feeling so good because we was finally past this and living together."

Around the time of Gary native Michael Jackson's death, Hurd texted that his older siblings had gone to Roosevelt High School with Jackson's older brothers. Later, he sent a photograph of the Jacksons' former home at 2300 Jackson St. in Gary, Ind.

Hurd also sent a picture of Ashanti's car, claiming to have spotted her at a performance of "The Wiz," in which she played Dorothy.

Hurd seemed to give up his obsession with the local stylist after she took out her restraining order against him -- he wore a suit and carried a briefcase to the hearing "and acted like we were going to have a big trial," she recalled. Hurd later was arrested outside the salon, sucking on a lollipop and staring at the woman through the window, Griffith police reported in 2003.

New York prosecutors say Hurd, described in different media outlets as salesman, a fitness trainer and former janitor, sent nearly 30 text messages to Douglas and her husband from May to July.

The messages reportedly seemed to imply a romantic relationship with the singer, and even suggested a sexual fantasy in which Douglas joined them for sex. It is not clear how Hurd got Douglas' phone number. In his messages, and in conversations with customers at the Griffith salon, Hurd claims to be in the music industry.

New York police detectives interviewed Hurd at the Lake County, Ind., Sheriff's Department in July, taking a statement and filing charges the same day, Griffith police Lt. Don McCarter said.

Hurd waived extradition, and NYPD officers took Hurd back to New York with them, jail records state. He has remained in jail on $50,000 bond, charged with four counts of stalking and 26 counts of aggravated harassment.