One of two men charged in kidnapping pleads guilty, sentenced

Staff report

WARREN

The case involving two men charged with kidnapping a local soldier and taking him to two ATMs to steal money from him has taken another turn.

Daniel Boone Jr., 24, of Leavittsburg and Vienna, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to kidnapping and robbery and received a three-year prison term.

The plea and sentencing came just four days after he and Juan D. Jordan, 23, were indicted on the charges.

And the indictments came just a week after a Warren Municipal Court judge dismissed the charges against both men, citing insufficient evidence to bind them over to a grand jury.

Before Judge Andrew Logan on Tuesday, Assistant County Prosecutor Chris Becker said prosecutors offered Boone a three-year prison term because the victim in the crime, William J. Hollis, 29, originally had lied to Howland police about some aspects of the crime.

Hollis gave a false story about the men forcing him to give them $120 from one ATM when in fact he took the money out himself, before the kidnapping, Hollis testified at one hearing.

Becker said Hollis told that lie because he didn’t want anyone to know he used that money on a prostitute.

Boone and Jordan were accused of kidnapping Hollis from a motel where he was with a woman and making him give them the PIN so they could withdraw money from an ATM in front of Eastwood Mall in Niles.

He said they assaulted him during the ride and then drove him to a second ATM in Warren where he fled from the car and called police.

Hollis also originally told police he had been kidnapped from North Road in Howland but later admitted to a Howland detective that was not true, that the kidnapping started in the motel.