Same Trumbull men indicted on kidnapping, robbery of Hermitage soldier

Staff report

WARREN

Although a municipal- court judge dismissed kidnapping and robbery charges a week ago against two men accused of kidnapping and robbing a Hermitage soldier, the same two were indicted Thursday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on similar charges.

Daniel D. Boone Jr., 24, of Leavittsburg and Vienna, and Juan D. Jordan, 23, of Warren, were each indicted on kidnapping and robbery charges after their cases were directly presented to a grand jury.

The charges are slightly different from the ones they faced during a preliminary hearing Feb. 6 in Warren Muncipal Court. The robbery charge is a lesser charge than the aggravated-robbery charge in municipal court.

Both men still face allegations that could result in a prison term of about 20 years, slightly less than they faced before.

Army Staff Sgt. William J. Hollis, 29, initially told Howland police he was kidnapped at gunpoint Jan. 20 at the intersection of North Road and Adrian Drive, but during the Feb. 6 hearing he testified that the episode began in an unspecified Route 422 motel.

In both versions, the soldier said Boone and Jordan kidnapped him, then forced him to give them the PIN to a bank account and took money from his bank account at an automated-teller machine in front of Eastwood Mall.

In both accounts, he said he escaped during an attempt to take money from another ATM, this one in downtown Warren.

Hollis also changed another part of the story in municipal court. Initially he said the two took him to a gas station and forced him to withdraw money there, but he later said that happened earlier, before the kidnapping.

Municipal court Judge Thomas Gysegem dismissed the charges against Boone and Jordan after the Feb. 6 hearing, saying “credibility is the linchpin” in cases of this type, and he didn’t find enough evidence to bind the case over to a county grand jury.

He said, however, he was dismissing the case “without prejudice,” meaning the case still could be directly presented to a grand jury or filed in another court if the location of the offense turned out to be in another jurisdiction.