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Smithfield man pleads guilty to assault; kidnapping charges dismissed

By Susy Kelly skelly@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read

A Smithfield man pleaded guilty in Fayette County Court on Thursday to assaulting a Point Marion man, and charges related to kidnapping the victim were dismissed.

Christopher Nicholas Foster, 26, entered guilty pleas to charges of simple assault and making terroristic threats before President Judge John F. Wagner Jr.

Initially, Foster faced a host of other charges, including multiple counts of kidnapping and aggravated assault, and conspiracy to commit both, related to an July 18, 2013, incident in which Garrett Moody was assaulted in the parking lot of a bar in Georges Township before being forced into a vehicle and taken away against his will.

District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr. said the commonwealth would decline to pursue charges of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment in exchange for the guilty plea, and that a sentence of intermediate punishment or probation would be recommended.

Foster explained to Wagner his role in the incident, saying he and Moody got in a fight after Moody tried to buy drugs from him.

“I told him to get away from me,” Foster said. “He pursued on, shoving me and spitting at me and calling me names.”

According to Foster, he and Moody had a bad history.

Wagner asked Foster if he had any involvement with kidnapping Moody that day.

“That was another altercation he was in later in the day,” said Foster.

“So he got whooped on twice in the same day?” asked Wagner.

“That’s what I’ve been told,” Foster replied.

Wagner said, “Bad day for him, huh?”

Also arrested in connection with assaulting and kidnapping Moody were Ronald Lee Smith, 37, of Masontown; Jessica Lane Jones, 35; and Harley Davis King, 37, both of Point Marion.

Smith pleaded guilty on April 14 to unlawful restraint, and no contest to simple assault, reckless endangerment, receiving stolen property and harassment, in exchange for the jail term and the prosecution dropping 26 other charges. He was later sentenced to four to 23 months in jail.

Moody testified at a preliminary hearing in December that Foster pulled him from a vehicle parked outside a bar and King used a handgun to strike him in the face.

Smith and King allegedly forced Moody into a pickup truck and fled to Route 119 and eventually onto Seghi Road.

Moody testified he believed one of the defendants was planning to shoot him, so he grabbed the steering wheel of the truck, forcing it to collide with an oncoming pickup truck before fleeing from the crash.

The driver of the other pickup truck, Christine Roziak of Smithfield, suffered a shattered ankle as a result of the crash.

Jones has not made any pretrial motions nor has she been listed for trial, and King is scheduled to go before Senior Judge Gerald R. Solomon on Sept. 2 to argue that the case against him should be dismissed for lack of evidence.

Foster will come before Wagner for sentencing at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 19.

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