A man accused of flinging marbles at oncoming vehicles while driving on Central Coast highways appeared in court Friday for the first time since his arrest earlier this week.

Charles Kenneth Lafferty, 52, did not enter a plea to allegations he used a slingshot to fire off glass marbles at oncoming traffic, shattering windows and scaring drivers on Highways 101 and 156 for nearly a year.

Monterey County Deputy District Attorney Matthew L'Heureux said he expects to file more charges Monday against Lafferty, who is suspected of at least 69 such attacks since February 2019. He currently faces nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

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Four adults and one child suffered minor injuries in the attacks, according to California Highway Patrol.

Officers arrested Lafferty Wednesday on 10 counts of assault with a deadly weapon, 10 counts of throwing a substance at a vehicle and one count of possessing a silencer, though he is not suspected of any shootings, said Chief L.D. Maples, with CHP's Coastal Division, at a Thursday press conference.

The current charges involve attacks between Nov. 25 and Jan. 5, including two incidents on Thanksgiving Day, according to the criminal complaint filed Friday by L'Heureux.

Maples has said officers are analyzing more evidence and he's "confident we'll be able to connect" Lafferty to the other incidents.

L'Heureux said a glitch in the DA's office prevented him from adding the additional charges recommended by CHP. He wasn't sure where Lafferty called home on the Central Coast but said officers had searched one home in Monterey County and another in Nipomo, a town in the southwestern end of San Luis Obispo County.

The attacks terrified Monterey County residents who frequented Highway 101 an Highway 156 in the Prunedale area.

Dozens of members of the Facebook group "Prunedale Community & Neighborhood Watch" said they had changed their routes or became uneasy when they had to drive the stretch of highway affected.

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In November, Toni Morris, who regularly commutes along the affected stretch of highway, wrote online that she was particularly concerned when she was stuck in traffic driving south on Highway 101 near the Red Barn.

"I was scanning all sides as the traffic was crawling along," Morris said last year. "It's a very uneasy feeling for sure."

Some residents said that they had taken to wearing sunglasses as eye protection, or put barriers up on the windows of the car seats where their children sit.

After news broke of Lafferty's arrest, members of the group expressed relief, with one person posting "It's about time prunedale can be safe again."

That fear also prompted community members, including the Monterey County Sheriff's Office and Prunedale-area County Supervisor John Phillips, to pledge $15,000 in reward money for information leading to the suspect.

However, Maples said the reward will not be handed out because it wasn't a tip that led to Lafferty's arrest.

Instead, he said a CHP task force with help from the sheriff's office made a break in the case after a Jan. 5 projectile attack, when officers identified the suspect's pickup as a GMC Sonoma.

Using surveillance and other means, they tracked down Lafferty, who has ties to several communities throughout the Central Coast, Maples said.

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CHP Capt. Kyle Foster said Thursday Lafferty had found a way to fire the projectiles using a slingshot at vehicles while behind the wheel — there are no other suspects in the case.

In serving the search warrant this week, officers searched several locations in Monterey and other central California counties, Maples said.

Congressman Jimmy Panetta, who previously served as a Monterey County prosecutor, lauded the CHP's work at the press conference. He said the scale of time and distance made this a particularly difficult case to crack

L'Heureux said he didn't have any information on Lafferty's job or work. Maples said Lafferty worked odd jobs and appeared to randomly target his victims.

The Monterey County Superior Court records did not show any previous court cases involving Lafferty.

However, he has faced prosecution before. In 2011, he pleaded no contest to allegations of driving under the influence in the Merced County Superior Court.

A year later, he also pleaded out to charges of burglary and disturbing the peace in Merced County, according to online court records.

The California Highway Patrol's Merced Area Office said Friday it's not aware of any similar projectile attacks in the area.

The Merced County District Attorney and Los Banos Police Department did not immediately return requests for comment.

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Lafferty's Facebook profile offers little insight into his personal life aside from a few photos of hunting dogs. He also appears to have been given an Oregon fishing license in 2016, according to a Lexis Nexis database search.

Because prosecutor L'Heureux plans to file additional charges, Lafferty's arraignment will continue Monday at 1:30 p.m. Bail is set at $270,000.

L'Heureux also acknowledged the projectiles were on his mind when driving along the highway this past year.

"I think most of us in the county were concerned about safety. I've been wondering who that was — I know a lot of people were too," he said. "And I'm glad we have the answer to that."

Joe Szydlowski is a multimedia journalist for the Salinas Californian who covers local government, crime and cannabis. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JoeSzyd_Salinas. He can be reached at 235-2360. Help support The Californian's work: https://bit.ly/2Qo298J