Police arrest second man in Beckley kidnapping case
Jun. 26—Beckley Police Department detectives and U.S. Marshals Office on Thursday arrested a Detroit man who allegedly beat and threatened a Beckley man and kept him in a dog cage in May, BPD Chief Detective Morgan Bragg reported Friday.
James D. Meeks-Little, 28, is charged with one count each of kidnapping, malicious wounding and conspiracy to commit a felony for his alleged role in an attack against another man.
Portions of the attack were captured on a cell phone by a person inside of the house, according to court documents.
Police report that Meeks-Little and another Detroit man were at a house on Foster Street on May 22, along with Joshua Lafferty of Beckley. The three suspects were keeping another man in a dog cage against his will. The cage was in the living room of the house.
Authorities reported the alleged beating was related to drugs.
Meeks-Little and the man were allegedly captured on video beating the victim, whom they said owed them money, with a shovel and standing guard outside of the dog cage.
While the victim pleaded for mercy from inside the cage, the two stood outside the unlocked cage with shovels, taunted the victim with death threats and spread plastic on the floor at one point, according to Raleigh authorities.
A woman entered the Foster Street house, witnessed the crime and made a report to police. When police responded to the house, they found the victim in the dog pen. Lafferty was also at the house.
Meeks-Little, who allegedly appeared on the cell phone recording, was not present when police arrived. The second man on the video was also gone.
Lafferty reportedly told police he did not know their names.
BPD deputies arrested Lafferty on kidnapping, malicious wounding and conspiracy to commit a felony on May 22.
Both Lafferty and Meeks-Little were at Southern Regional Jail without bail on Friday.
Meeks-Little was arrested during a traffic stop on Eisenhower Drive on Thursday, Bragg said.
