A former Maryland police chief charged with setting dozens of fires is being sued by his daughter for allegedly targeting her and her then-husband, Raymond Truelove Jr.

Carrie Turner said her father, former Laurel Police Chief David Crawford, began terrorizing her in 2008 after she tried to get her daughter back, whom Crawford had custody of.

The lawsuit accuses Crawford of shooting at Truelove’s car while it was parked outside of their York, Pennsylvania, home. Out of fear, the couple moved in with Turner’s mother at her home in Odenton, Maryland.

The lawsuit says that the alleged acts continued and Turner’s mother’s home was also shot at. A filled gasoline can with a rag stuffed into the spout was also found on the property, the suit claims.

The document outlines several more alleged acts, including a gym where Turner worked being shot at. According to the lawsuit, Crawford left notes behind in some of the incidents and signed them “York Boyz” to make it appear as though a gang was targeting Turner and her husband.

The lawsuit says that Turner initially sought her father’s help because he was a police chief. Eventually, she realized that the incidents happened every time she tried to get custody of her daughter.

The alleged acts went on for two years and ended when Turner filed adoption papers granting full custody to her father and stepmother.

The alleged threats from Crawford, the suit says, were “intended to threaten and intimidate Carrie into forgoing her parental rights.”

The lawsuit, which also names the stepmother, Mary Crawford, as a defendant, alleges that the adoption was forced through Crawford’s acts of “terrorism.”

Turner is now seeking immediate and permanent custody of her child, the lawsuit says. Her attorney told NBC News that the case is scheduled for an emergency hearing on Thursday.

Crawford remains jailed on numerous arson and attempted murder charges related to a dozen fires that were set between 2011 and 2020 in various counties. That criminal proceeding remains pending.

The Prince George’s County Fire Department said that most of the fires happened early in the morning and involved a person wearing a hooded sweatshirt and carrying gallon jugs filled with gasoline. Vehicles, homes and residential garages were set ablaze, the department said in a press release.

The victims were people Crawford had some type of dispute with and included family members, a neighbor, a City of Laurel official and two law enforcement officials.

He has not been charged with any crime connected to the allegations in the lawsuit. His attorney as well as the Anne Arundel County Police Department in Odenton and York City Police Department did not immediately return a request for comment.

Mary Crawford could not be reached at phone numbers listed for her.

Minyvonne Burke

Minyvonne Burke is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.

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