An Arkansas man was arrested this week after police said he held a woman by gunpoint in a vehicle for several hours before she was released following a traffic stop Tuesday in Savanna.
Leon Charles Hendry, 56, of Shirley, Arkansas, was charged Wednesday with felony counts of kidnapping, trafficking in illegal drugs, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and a misdemeanor count of driving with license canceled/suspended/revoked, according to documents filed in Pittsburg County District Court.
Jail records show Hendry was being held Thursday on a $75,000 bond.
The investigation began after the Pittsburg County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a kidnapping with firearms involved on State Highway 31 near Featherston, an affidavit filed in the case states.
Officers with the McAlester Police Department spotted the suspect vehicle traveling southbound on U.S. Highway 69 with the license plate coming back to Hendry, the report states.
According to the affidavit, after Hendy was placed into custody following a traffic stop in Savanna, the woman was pulled safely to the side, and officers began searching the vehicle for the firearm used in the kidnapping.
A total of three firearms were found in the vehicle, along with a bag containing baggies of a white crystal-like substance and other drug paraphernalia, according to the report.
Deputies wrote in the report that the contents of the baggies field-tested positive for methamphetamine and weighed a total of 36 grams.