Man ordered to trial for felony stalking
Suspect held on $100,000 bond
A Hazel Park man was ordered recently to stand trial on a felony aggravated stalking charge involving a Ferndale woman.
Isaah M. Hilligoss, 25, was ordered to trial in Oakland County Circuit Court at the conclusion of a preliminary hearing before Ferndale 43rd District Judge Joseph Longo.
MediaNews Group is not naming the alleged vic- tim who testified in a hearing. Hilligoss is her ex-boyfriend and they have a young child together.
Hilligoss is charged in Hazel Park 43rd District Court with punching the woman and hitting her with a broom handle as she walked along Dequindre near Eight Mile Road on May 4.
She has a personal protection order against the suspect and his bond conditions in Hazel Park prohibited him from having any contact with the woman.
The woman called police in Ferndale, where she lives, after police said Hilligoss showed up near her house and sent threatening messages.
Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Dillon Salge presented screen shots of Facebook messages he said Hilligoss sent to the woman before he was arrested in Ferndale on June 27.
“I’m going to end up coming there and killing everybody besides the kids,” one message read. In another message he told her he would “shoot up your crib.” A third communication from the suspect read: “I’ll kill U bitch.”
Shortly before the woman called Ferndale police June 27, Ferndale police said he sent a message while near the woman’s house threatening to kick in the door.
“I was afraid,” the woman testified Monday, that the suspect would attack her again.
Before ordering Hilligoss to stand trial in circuit court, Judge Longo noted “the very violent communications” the suspect is accused of sending. Ferndale police said they found the suspect sitting near a Dumpster behind a business that is down the street from the woman’s house when they arrested him.
“He said he was sitting behind the building because he was using the WiFi,” Ferndale police Officer Sly Sutter testified.
Hilligoss is currently jailed on a $100,000 cash bond for failing to appear for a scheduled court hearing in Hazel Park, and a $7,500 cash bond in the Ferndale aggravated stalking case.
The aggravated stalking charge against him in Ferndale is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
A trial date in county circuit court is pending.