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Man who terrorized sister in Athens arrested in California on escape charge
A man arrested last summer for terrorizing his sister in Athens cut off his ankle monitor while under house arrest, took off across the country and dared officials to “catch me if you can.”
Officials took up Daniel Joseph Gifford on his challenge. After tracking him down in California, police returned him to the Clarke County Jail late last week.
The 28-year-old is facing aggravated assault, burglary and other felony charges for an incident that caused his sister to barricade herself in a room because she feared for her life.
Athens-Clarke County police said on the night of July 9, the Alpharetta resident showed up at his sister’s home and broke out the windows of the woman’s car with a baseball bat.
He then got into the home by using the bat to shatter the glass of the back door.
The terrified woman ran to her upstairs bedroom where she barricaded herself inside and called 911, telling a dispatcher that her brother might also have a gun, police said.
Gifford broke windows throughout the house while calling out the victim’s name “in an eerie way and saying, ‘Sister, come play,’” according to a police incident report.
“She explained that his voice was in a pitch as though she was in a horror movie.,” noted the report. “(She) advised that she heard Daniel saying, ‘Whoo-hoo,’ as if he was on a roller coaster.”
When officers arrived they found Gifford beating on the bedroom door where his sister was hiding. Police said that he almost was successful in gaining entry.
The officers ordered Gifford at gunpoint to drop the bat, which he did. Police said they did not find any firearms.
He was arrested and charged with burglary, aggravated assault and two counts of second-degree criminal damage to property.
The victim apparently referred to a condition from which Gifford suffers, but the information was blacked out in the copy of the police incident report.
An Athens-Clarke County Magistrate Court judge granted Gifford bail, with the condition he wear an ankle monitor and remain under house arrest. The judge ordered Gifford not to leave his home in Alpharetta unless he had to go to court, meet with his attorney or for medical reasons to include mental health appointments.
A grand jury indicted Gifford on the felony charges, and he returned to court on Aug. 20 when he pleaded not guilty to all charges at his arraignment in Clarke County Superior Court.
That was the last time anyone, including his attorney, would see him.
The computer-savvy criminal defendant created a website called RapePreventionKit.com. On the site, Gifford promised to post such information as self-defense techniques, how to test for date-rape drugs, and “how to prevent a rape via our cellphone based alert system.”
The website says it was created by Gifford Software Consulting LLC. When clicking on the company’s link, visitors are taken to its page where it says Gifford was a 2009 graduate of Georgia Tech with a computer science degree.
Another link at RapePreventionKit.com is titled “inspirational” and brings visitors to a page that is a journal Gifford apparently began in mid-August, just prior to his arraignment.
Journal entries range from the mundane to very personal and bizarre.
Gifford praises the merits of Motel 6 and bargains to be found at Walmart’s online pharmacy, then lapses into musings about having possibly been the victim of a date rape.
Gifford posted that he woke up naked in his apartment in March 2012 after having had dinner alone in Atlanta. He posted that he believed he was date raped because he tested positive for date-rape drugs.
“This means I was driving around town on a hallucinogen without knowing it,” Gifford posted. “What is even more disturbing is that the hair and urine test don’t line up. This means my shampoo was doped with a toxin removing agent.”
On Aug. 18 Gifford posted that he planned to move to San Diego after his legal “battle” was over. Over the next several days, he posted that had a session with his counselor who suggested that he see someone else, lamented how no one had visited him during his house arrest and fired his defense attorney in Athens.
On Sept. 12, Gifford posted, “I am now in CA.”
“I decided to check out Redding, CA.,” Gifford posted on Sept. 20.
“I mailed the courts again,” he posted. “If I do not get a response from them by October 1st, 2013, I will assume I am truly a free man. … I will be contacting the pastors and trying to start a new life in Eureka, CA. I am willing to live in the bay area for a few years while I work at Google for a few years.”
The mail Gifford mentioned arrived in Athens soon after and was filed in Superior Court on Sept. 24.
The letter referred to a “legal nightmare” Gifford was in that somehow was the fault of persons at the court who he does not identify.
In the letter, Gifford stated that if the court did not respond, “fully addressing this matter,” he would assume that among other things he was a free man with no criminal record, had no outstanding warrants or fines and was able to own firearms.
A court clerk responded the same day the letter was received.
“Dear Mr. Gifford,” the clerk wrote, “We have received your letter to which there is some confusion … is there something in particular that you are requesting from us?”
The clerk noted that since Gifford was arraigned no new court dates had been filed, and if he wished the case to move forward he might have to represent himself because he had fired his attorney.
The day after Gifford’s letter was received by the court, the probation officer who was tracking the GPS tracking device on his ankle monitor sent an email.
“Mr. Gifford,” the officer wrote, “I tried calling you several times with no answer. I hope you are doing OK. I am obligated to tell you that warrants have been issued for your arrest and I encourage you to turn yourself in so you can deal with this situation and put it behind you.”
The warrants charged Gifford with the new offenses of escape, interfering with electronic monitoring and theft by conversion by removing the ankle monitor and not returning it.
Gifford responded with an email of his own.
“Your response is pathetic. You have lost all validity,” he told the probation officer. “I am no longer responding. Good luck getting your stuff back. You can always get the latest updates of your epic failure at http://www.rapepreventionkit.com/inspiration. Catch me if you can…”
The probation officer, Jay Johnson, told the Athens Banner-Herald that he used the information posted on Gifford’s website to find the absconded defendant.
“We were able to determine his location and called local law enforcement who arrested him,” said Johnson. He was returned to Georgia through the extradition process.
Gifford was booked back into the Clarke County Jail on Thursday.
The next day, Athens-Clarke County Magistrate Court Judge Toni Pomerene denied Gifford bail because she deemed him to be a significant threat to the community as well as a flight risk.
• Follow Criminal Justice reporter Joe Johnson at www.facebook.com/JoeJohnsonABH or www.twitter.com/JoeJohnsonABH.
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