CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – A jailed North Carolina man accused of an arson attack on an immigrant-owned store didn’t appear in court as planned because he’s being disciplined, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
When Mecklenburg County District Court Judge Matt Osman called for 32-year-old Curtis Flournoy to appear on closed-circuit television for his initial court appearance, a deputy said Flournoy had been placed in the disciplinary detention unit.
Osman then scheduled Flournoy to appear for a bond hearing April 21, and a probable cause hearing one week later.
Mecklenburg County Assistant District Attorney Alana Byrnes said she didn’t know what led to Flournoy’s being placed on disciplinary detention. Officials at the Mecklenburg County jail weren’t available for comment to elaborate on what such detention involves.
Flournoy remains jailed on a $35,000 bond on charges, including ethnic intimidation and burning a commercial building. Osman said a public defender would be assigned to Flournoy.
Authorities said the fire last Thursday at Central Market, which sells items from the Indian subcontinent, burned itself out and no one was hurt. A window in the door to the store was broken with a rock.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said a threatening note was left on the scene attributed to “White America.” According to police, the note complained about refugee business owners and said they weren’t wanted and that the store owner would be tortured if he didn’t go back where he came from.
Kamal Dhimal, the store owner, is from Bhutan. He came to the U.S. in 2010 and opened Central Market four years later. He said he has since become a U.S. citizen.
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