Ridgeview man has case bound over to Ky. grand jury
by
FRED PACE, EDITOR
Coal Valley News
PAINTSVILLE, Ky. – A Ridgeview man facing a felony charge after allegedly picking up a 14-year-old girl from a school in Paintsville, Kentucky and bringing her to his home in Boone County will see his charges go before a Paintsville, Ky., grand jury at the Johnson County Judicial Center.
Robert W. Stringer, 25, from Ridgeview, is facing a felony charge of “Custodial Interference.”
Johnson County Circuit Court Judge John Kevin Holbrook waived the preliminary hearing for Stringer on Wednesday, March 13, and placed the case before a grand jury set to meet on April 17.
If Stringer is indicted on the felony charge the matter would then proceed to Circuit Court in Paintsville, Ky.
Stringer is being represented by a court appointed attorney after posting a $10,000 cash only bond.
Stringer was arrested in January of this year by deputies from the Boone County Sheriff’s Department after information was received from authorities in the state of Kentucky, according to Boone County Sheriff Randall White.
Deputies reported that Stringer was found to be in the company of a 14-year old-female from Paintsville, Ky.
Initial investigations point to an online relationship between Stringer and the juvenile female, police said, which resulted in Stringer allegedly traveling to the victim's school and picking her up when school was dismissed without permission of the teen girl’s parents. The pair then traveled back to Stringer's residence in Ridgeview, according to the police report.
Sheriff's Deputies D.J. Cottrell and A.M. Cook are handling the initial investigation in Boone County’s juristdiction. Boone County Chief Deputy Chad White said the department was waiting on the results forensic tests before filing any West Virginia charges against Stringer.
“It is a very real possibility that we will have criminal charges filed in Boone County in the coming days on Mr. Stringer,” said Boone County Sheriff Randall White. “The investigation is continuing and we are looking into what sort of violations of the law have been committed here in our county.”