YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A man who had been free on bond in a case where police say a woman was tortured now has a federal firearms charge facing him.
A criminal complaint was filed Wednesday in the U.S. Northern District Court Of Ohio charging Farren McClendon, 43, of East Judson Avenue, with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
McClendon, who had been free on a $50,000 bond that was given to him in municipal court with work release privileges, was arrested again Thursday, according to court records.
He was arraigned Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carmen E. Henderson and ordered to remain in custody until a detention hearing is held Tuesday.
An affidavit in the case said officers serving a search warrant Oct. 1 in the torture case found two .40-caliber semiautomatic handguns in McClendon’s house.
Federal investigators got a warrant Oct. 19 to get DNA from McClendon, which they served a couple of days later, to see if the DNA found on the guns was McClendon’s.
A report came back Monday that there was a “strong support of inclusion” that McClendon’s DNA was on one of the guns and a “moderate support of inclusion” that his DNA was on another gun.
McClendon faces kidnapping, felonious assault, complicity to felonious assault and complicity to aggravated menacing charges in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court after a woman told police she was kidnapped and tortured Sept. 20 by McClendon and co-defendant Janarvis Roberts, 26.
The pair are accused of taking a woman from a vacant home on East Judson Avenue, taking her to a remote area of the East Side, beating her and then leaving her. The woman managed to find a home and call for help.
Detectives served two search warrants Oct. 1 at homes in the 500 block of Cambridge Avenue and the 100 block of East Judson Avenue as part of their investigation and seized several bags of evidence while also taking two pieces of paneling and a rolled-up carpet from the trash.
Roberts was taken into custody at the Cambridge Avenue home and arrested after he was questioned by detectives. McClendon was arrested later.
In his state case McClendon has a motion to suppress also scheduled for Tuesday before Judge John Durkin.
McClendon has a previous conviction in 2005 in federal court on a firearms offense which prohibits from having or being around a gun, according to the affidavit.