Man recently paroled after a decade faces new criminal charges

SALT LAKE CITY — A man who was recently released from the Utah State Prison after serving more than a decade for kidnapping is now facing new charges.

Daniel Robert Lehi Ferry, 42, of Pleasant Grove, was charged Monday in 3rd District Court with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony; failing to stop at the command of police, a class A misdemeanor; and causing an accident, a class B misdemeanor.

On March 14, Ferry hit another car on 500 N. 1400 West which started a chain-reaction crash. In total, Ferry’s car struck three other vehicles, according to charging documents.

After the vehicles collided, Ferry got out of his car and started to run away while telling witnesses he was going to get a gun, the charges state.

He then walked toward a business at 1260 W. North Temple. Police later looking at surveillance video saw Ferry holding a knife and watched him “slash his throat several times while walking up the ramp to enter the business,” according to the charges.

Inside, holding the knife, he demanded car keys from an employee while “saying he didn’t want to hurt anyone,” the charges state. Ferry “remained for a short time muttering incoherent things before leaving.”

Police spotted Ferry near 200 North and 900 West, still holding the knife, which he “pointed at his neck as he ran” away from the officers, according to the charges. Two officers attempted to use their Tasers three times on Ferry before he was taken into custody.

Ferry was sentenced to prison in 2012 for kidnapping and was paroled just three weeks before being arrested. He also made headlines in 2012 when he was arrested for investigation of murder, in connection with the killing of 15-year-old Anne Grace Kasprzak, whose body was found near the Jordan River. But Ferry steadfastly maintained his innocence and he was never charged in connection with her death. In 2013, one year after Kasprzak’s murder, police announced that Ferry was no longer considered a suspect.