FCSO arrests two for kidnapping
Two men have been arrested for kidnapping, chaining and gagging a 50-year-old victim in Russellville.
Steven Lee Pennington, 35, 1035 McGuire Loop, Russellville, and Nahum Garcia, 32, 17 Highway 144, Russellville, were charged with kidnapping second degree and are currently in the Franklin County Jail.
According to investigators with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Pennington and Garcia suspected the victim of stealing Pennington’s car and gun. The two confronted the victim at a gas station on Highway 24 in Russellville, and “they put the victim in their vehicle and carried him to Steven’s and took him out behind Steven’s house and chained him up to a tree and gagged him,” an FCSO investigator reported.
The victim was able to get loose the same night, several hours later, and trek about a quarter mile through the woods to a neighbor’s house. The neighbor reported the victim still had ropes around his neck from where he had been restrained.
The victim was acquainted with Pennington and Garcia, who are both being held in the Franklin County Jail, Pennington on a $10K bond.
