Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Custody dispute ends in father's arrest

A dispute over child custody resulted in th arrest of a 21-year-old Hope man.

According to court records, Nevada County Sheriff's deputy Hebb Sorrells was sent to the home of Shameka Purifoy July 30, at 8:45 a.m. on a disturbance call.

It seems Willie T. Purifoy, Shameka's estranged husband, had broken into her apartment in Prescott, grabbed her by the hair and threatened to hit her with a dumbbell.

According to records, he said he would go back to Hope, get his gun and kill her and her friend, Earl Woods, who was there at the time.

When Sorrells arrived, the suspect was in his car in front of apartment 10 talking to someone there.

Sorrells ordered Purifoy out of the car, telling him to put his hands on the hood.

Purifoy told Sorrells he had no weapon. However, Sorrells still did a pat down search of Purifoy's person and looked through his car, finding no weapon.

Further investigation turned up witnesses who backed Shameka Purifoy's account of what happened.

The two, it seems, are in the process of getting divorced, and the father wants custody of their child.

Willie Purifoy was charged with residential burglary, a class B felony with a sentence of 5-20 years in prison and a fine up to $15,000, domestic battery in the third degree and terroristic threatening, a class D felony with a possible sentence up to six years in prison and a fine not to exceed $10,000.