Police arrest father of 3 girls found tied up, gagged in home

YOUNGSTOWN -- A West Ravenwood Avenue mother who returned from the store around 6 p.m. Wednesday found her three daughters -- ages 8, 10 and 12 -- lying on a bed with their hands tied behind their backs and their mouths gagged with scarves and handkerchiefs.
Once untied, the girls explained that their father, whom they're not supposed to let in, had broken in through a basement window and chased them.
Matthew Abrams, 47 of Stewart Avenue grabbed an extension cord and put it around the 8-year-old's neck and dragged her through the house, reports say. The other girls jumped on his back and kicked him before he tied them up.
The father, angry that they wouldn't let him in, then ransacked the house on the city's South Side, police said. Police found Abrams driving on McGuffey Road around 10 p.m. Wednesday and arrested him. He spent the night in the Mahoning County jail, pending the filing of charges today.
He faces three counts of kidnapping and one count of aggravated burglary, the clerk of courts office said.