RALEIGH, N.C. — A former North Carolina State football player has been charged with stalking and threatening Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren, sending messages that included “Imma get him I promise.”
Arrest warrants show that campus police charged Joseph Isaac Boletepeli, 22, of Raleigh, with two counts of misdemeanor stalking and communicating threats. Wake County court records show he was released on a $25,000 bond on orders to stay clear of the N.C. State campus and his former coach.
Boletepeli threatened physical harm in his November tweet, which he directed at “Dave Doeren and the rest,” warrants said.
Court records also describe the former NCSU defender sending harassing text messages and showing up at Doeren’s office in a way that “would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress by placing that person in fear of death, bodily injury ... or the safety of the person’s immediate family.”
N.C. State officials said no one from the school would be commenting on the incident, and referred all inquiries to the Wake County Sheriff’s office.
Boletepeli played high school football at Millbrook High School in Raleigh and at Heritage High School in Wake Forest. Recruited to play at N.C. State by Doeren and his staff, Boletepeli was a member of the school’s 2018 recruiting class.
He played in six games for the Wolfpack over two seasons.
In 2020, after originally announcing he was going to transfer to West Virginia, the 6-4, 262-pound defensive end changed his mind and transferred to Maryland.
In May 2022, after playing parts of the 2020 season and sitting out the 2021 campaign, Boletepeli again announced his intent to transfer. Over four seasons, he played in 10 games, recording 21 total tackles and 1.5 sacks.
