2 charged with felonious assault, abduction for incident in Champion

Staff report

WARREN

One man was arraigned Monday on a charge of felonious assault and two felony counts of abduction, while an arrest warrant was issued for a second man on the same charges relating to an incident on Damon Street in Champion early Saturday.

Greg R. Weilacher, 20, of Palmyra Road and Damon Avenue, was released from the Trumbull County jail Monday after posting $25,000 bond. A judge in Warren Municipal Court entered a not-guilty plea for him.

An arrest warrant was issued for Robert E. Klein, 20, who listed addresses on Parkman Road Northwest in Warren and Madison Avenue in Youngstown. As of Tuesday, he was not in custody.

The charges stem from allegations by an 18-year-old Damon Street man who said he was asleep with his 16-year-old girlfriend at 4 a.m. when Weilacher came into the bedroom, woke him up and told him they needed to talk in the basement.

When the victim got to the basement, Klein came toward him with a handgun and struck him on the side of the head, the victim said. Weilacher and Klein held the victim down and accused him of “setting up” one of the men for a robbery, police said.

They ordered the girl to come to the basement and held her and the 18-year-old male there about 90 minutes while they continued to demand that the victim admit to “setting up” one of them.

The victim said he denied doing what they alleged, and was hit additional times. The victim eventually fled from the house and drove to his mother’s house. She drove him back to his home while calling 911.

When police arrived, the victim, his girlfriend and the victim’s mother were there but not the suspects.

The victim, who had a bruise in the temple area and behind his ear and redness on his ear, refused medical treatment.

The girl’s mother picked her up, saying she thought the girl was at a different friend’s house.