Two men facing charges for kidnapping, retaliation
ZANESVILLE - On Oct. 28, 2017, in a home on Grace Avenue, a woman was beaten and tied up. The next day, at the same place, a man was told to strip and he was beaten.
Someone recorded both attacks with a cell phone, which was found by police on Nov. 5 at the scene of an unrelated incident. Police searched the phone as part of a forensic investigation and discovered the videos.
Zanesville Police Detective James Devoll testified in a preliminary hearing in Zanesville Municipal Court that he recognized the house from the videos and one of the individuals: Darnell R. Vann.
Vann and another man, Michael S. Thundercloud, were arrested for their alleged involvement in the beatings and other crimes depicted in the videos and appeared in court for the hearing on Thursday.
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Vann, 29, of Zanesville, was charged with three counts of kidnapping, all first-degree felonies, aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, two counts of felonious assault, both second-degree felonies, retaliation, a third-degree felony, attempted retaliation, a fourth-degree felony, and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, a first-degree felony.
Michael S. Thundercloud, 45, of Zanesville, was charged with two counts of kidnapping, both first-degree felonies, aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, felonious assault, a second-degree felony, and retaliation, a third-degree felony.
Each charge filed against the men carries a firearm specification. They were arrested after a raid at the home, 1021 Grace Ave., on Jan. 9.
The female victim, who was beaten on Oct. 28, testified that she sometimes stayed at Vann's home on Grace Avenue, and on the date in question she woke up to someone punching her in the face.
She was told to crawl to another room, where she was tied up. Eventually, she said, she was untied.
"What's going through your mind?" Assistant Muskingum County Prosecutor Ron Welch asked.
"I'm gonna die," she said.
She couldn't see who tied her up, but Devoll had testified the person who tied her up was Thundercloud.
Vann, through his defense attorney, Robert McClelland of Zanesville, argued that the videos had been staged. Another drug dealer had put hits out on the victims for testifying against him in a previous case, and Vann proposed to those victims the idea of getting beat up in exchange for drugs or money.
The female victim testified, though, that while such a conversation took place, she only indicated to Vann that she might do it as long as everyone involved was on the same page. They had no other conversations about it before the actual beating occurred.
None of what happened she agreed to, she testified.
The male victim testified that he'd said he wanted nothing to do with any kind of staged videos. He entered the home on Oct. 29 to buy drugs, he said, and instead he was told to strip and got punched and kicked. Afterward, he was told he wasn't allowed to leave.
"Could you see Vann hit you on the video?" McClelland asked the victim.
"I couldn't see it but I could definitely feel it," he said.
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The victim also pointed out that he was not even the person the drug deal put the hit on. He and that person just share the same name.
McClelland argued that other individuals were the ones who did the actual assaults, not Vann. And, he pointed out, the female victim said she didn't feel like Vann had restrained her, robbed her or assaulted her.
Thundercloud's defense attorney, Mark Kaido of Zanesville, argued that Thundercloud hadn't been involved at all, with the exception of tying the female victim up. Thundercloud had been in the basement of the home during the male victim's assault, but his presence didn't mean he was participating.
Judge William Joseph set Vann's bond at $1 million and Thundercloud's bond at $750,000. Joseph also found that one of the kidnapping charges against Thundercloud did not have probable cause.
Both cases will be bound over to the Muskingum County Grand Jury.
ksnyder2@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com
740-450-6752
Twitter: @KL_Snyder