Woman Described in Court Last Week as ‘a Really Bad Influence’ Is Arrested on 5 Felonies, Including Child Abuse

Cherie Ford’s name was invoked several times last week during a sentencing hearing in a Bunnell courtroom. She wasn’t there. Her ex-husband, Adam, was, so was Ford’s attorney, so was his brother, so were some of his children. 

They all blamed Cherie for leading Adam astray, enabling his drinking especially. “The only time he’s acted weird in his life was when the person was in his life,” Adam Ford’s brother told the court. “Unfortunately, he had a really bad influence in his life, and now that’s gone, and his whole life has shifted,” Adam’s stepdaughter told the judge. 

The blame-shifting was likely effective. Adam was facing more serious jail or prison time, but he was sentenced to 60 days in jail and two years on probation as a result of an incident in mid-2024 when he confronted and struck several Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies. 

Cherie was previously found guilty of battering an officer in the same incident. She pleaded in January, got five days in jail and three years on probation, which she was serving. Terms of probation include a prohibition on consuming drugs or alcohol, anger management classes and other counseling related to her conviction. 

On Monday, Cherie Ford, 44, was re-arrested, this time on five felony charges, including a second-degree felony charge of child neglect causing great harm and a third-degree felony charge of child abuse. The arrest was a probation violation, so she faces a felony count for that as well, and two felony battery counts–felonies, because they are her third cuch charge following convictions on similar charges. 

According to her 19-year-old daughter, Cherie Ford had been drinking at a friend’s and had asked to be picked up, since she was intoxicated. Once home, Ford began dumping various things into the food her daughter had just prepared. From her bedroom, Ford yelled obscenities at her 22-year-old son-in-law. 

When her daughter tried to talk to her, Ford slammed the door in her face, then reopened it and allegedly charged at the son-in-law, who was holding his infant daughter. As he described it, she “began attacking him by striking him repeatedly in the face and back of his head as he tried running away from her” since he was holding his child. He sustained several scratches to the face. An area on the child’s arm turned red as sheriff’s deputies were investigating. Ford also allegedly pushed her daughter while her daughter was holding another child. 

Ford would not explain to a deputy what took place. She was booked at the Flagler County jail on $20,000 bond on four of the five felonies, and no bond on the probation violation. A judge imposed a no-contact order involving Ford’s daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren. The family had been living at the same Beacon Mill Lane house where Ford had been living with Adam Ford when they were married. The couple’s divorce was finalized in May. (The Fords acknowledged in their court papers that neither was paying the $2,200 mortgage, and that the property was for sale.) 

She was previously represented by Assistant Public Defender Spencer O’Neil and prosecuted by Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark.  If convicted this time Ford risks serving significantly more jail or prison time.