A man alleged to have held a woman against her will while demanding to be told what she had been doing during the two days he had been in jail appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
A request was made to have 37-year-old Mark Jeffries’ bond lowered from the current $50,000 level but the state objected to any lowering of the bond.
Prosecutor David Ethredge told the court that, given the serious allegations against Jeffries, the state felt the bond was appropriate.
A jury trial for Jeffries is now set for next month.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Jeffries is alleged to have choked the woman and held two different handguns to her head while seeking information on her activities.
The incident began when Jeffries was released from the Baxter County Detention Center September 6th last year.
He is reported to have gone to a residence where he held the woman and began quizzing her about her activities during the time he was jailed.
At one point, Jeffries allowed the victim to leave the house to run an errand, but would not let her carry her cellphones.
Instead of running the errand, the woman drove to a friend’s home. The friend reached out to family members of the victim and they contacted law enforcement.
When the victim did not return to the house, Jeffries began sending out “inappropriate pictures” of the victim to individuals and social media sites.
When the victim heard that Jeffries was sending the pictures, she reached out to him and he is reported to have “coerced” her into coming back to him in exchange for “removing the inappropriate photos from social media.”
On getting word that the victim had gone back to Jeffries, a family member began searching for her. He saw the woman’s car being driven by Jeffries and began to follow it. The relative contacted 911 to tell dispatchers he was tailing the woman’s vehicle.
Jeffries pulled into a lot near Main and 12th Streets and got out of the car. The victim followed him. It was reported by onlookers that the woman did not appear to have left the vehicle voluntarily.
When officers began arriving on the scene, the family member was able to intercede and pull the victim away from Jeffries.
Jeffries kept walking alone. He was reported to have been “cutting in between houses” in an effort to get away from the scene when he was located and taken into custody.
A search of the vehicle in which Jeffries and the victim had been riding turned up two handguns – one reported stolen from Harrison.
At the time of the incident, Jeffries was on parole from a conviction in an earlier case.
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