Joshua James Napoli, 39, formerly of House Springs, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for stalking a woman from February 2017 to April 2017 and assaulting the woman and her two children by running a vehicle off the road in April 2017, according to court records.
Napoli, who most recently lived in St. Louis, pleaded guilty this spring to four felonies in connection with the case, court paper show.
Napoli, a prior offender, began harassing the woman on Feb. 14, 2017, when he called her 93 times and sent 200 text messages to her phone after she had obtained an order of protection against him through St. Louis County, the probable-cause statement said. At the time, Napoli said he had received the restraining order but was told he could still call the woman, the report said.
On March 26, 2017, Napoli was found at 4:12 a.m. at an apartment complex in Festus where the woman lived, claiming he had been invited to the residence. The woman said Napoli texted her asking to come over so they could have sex, but she told him no. After that exchange, though, Napoli showed up at the apartment and tried to enter through a sliding-glass door, the probable-cause statement said.
Later that day, the woman reported to police that Napoli had sent her approximately 65-70 text messages as of 10:35 a.m., a probable-cause statement said.
On March 31, 2017, the woman told police Napoli turned up at the Festus apartment complex again, and after exiting an unmarked white van with tinted windows, ran toward her and her two children. The woman told police Napoli said he would come to her home if she continued to ignore his phone calls, and that he threatened her with physical violence, the probable-cause statement said.
The woman also told police that Napoli said he had people watching and following her at all times so he would remain updated about her whereabouts, the report said.
On April 1, 2017, the woman again told police that Napoli was trying to contact her, saying she would receive more than 100 phone calls a day, hundreds of text messages, and he would show up at her home. One of the text messages included a picture of Napoli holding between $2,000 and $3,000, which he offered the woman for sex, the probable-cause statement said.
On April 2, 2017, Festus Police responded to a call from the woman at Hwy. 61-67 in front of Roadside Park after the woman reported that Napoli had run the vehicle she was driving off the road. Her two children, both under the age of 3, were inside the vehicle, the probable-cause statement said.
The woman said Napoli had been following her as she traveled south on Hwy. 61-67 before pulling alongside her vehicle, crossing into her lane and edging her off the road. When the woman slowed down, she said Napoli hit her driver’s side bumper forcing her onto the shoulder and then he sped away from the accident, the report said.
Napoli sent the woman several harassing text messages on April 14, according to the report.
The next day, Festus Police were called to the woman’s apartment complex in reference to property damage. While police were at the residence, Napoli called the woman’s cell phone multiple times. The officer told her to answer one of the calls and put the phone on speaker phone, the probable-cause statement said.
During the phone call, Napoli confirmed he was driving the vehicle that ran her off the road, said he was in a rehabilitation program and asked the woman to give him another chance at a relationship with her, the report said.
Napoli pleaded guilty to stalking in the first degree, a class E felony, for the Feb. 14 incident, as well as to domestic assault in the third degree, a class E felony, and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, a class D felony, for the April 2 incident. On April 18, Jefferson County Div. 6 Circuit Judge Troy A. Cardona sentenced him to four years in prison for stalking, four years for assault and seven years for each child endangerment charge, court records said.
Napoli was ordered to serve the stalking and assault charges consecutively with the two sentences for child endangerment to be served concurrently, or at the same time, but consecutively to the stalking and assault charges, bringing his total sentence to 15 years.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Tiffany S. Baker handled the case.
Napoli is a prior offender who pleaded guilty to felony first-degree burglary stemming from a January 2006 incident in Jefferson County.
He currently is in the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.