Torture case sent to Trumbull County grand jury

The victim said he owed the father and son $50 for marijuana.

WARREN — A father and son have been bound over to a Trumbull County grand jury in the torture of a Leavittsburg man over a $50 drug debt.

Stephen H. DeSantis, 47, and his son, Michael A. DeSantis, 22, both of 928 South St., waived their preliminary hearings Tuesday before municipal Judge Thomas Gysegem.

They are both charged with the kidnapping and felonious assault of 25-year-old Shane DeSmith of Riverview Drive at the DeSantises’ home on Feb. 23.

A third man facing the same charges, Brandon Finney, 20, of North Mecca Street, Cortland, has a preliminary hearing scheduled for 10:30 a.m. today before Judge Gysegem.

The three men are being held in the county jail in lieu of $250,000 bond each.

A juvenile accused of being involved in the beating is being held in the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center.

DeSmith has said he owed the father and son $50 for marijuana he had purchased for another person. He said he had the money to pay them when attacked on Porter Street, when he was forced into their pickup truck and driven to the South Street home.

In the basement of the house, DeSmith said he was tortured with a sledge hammer and grinder used to cut his toe through his shoe. He also was burned.

At one point during his seven-hour ordeal, DeSmith said he told the others to kill him. Later, he was dragged outside and into the pickup. He was dumped off at his home.