CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Police are investigating reports of an attempting kidnapping in St. Albans Tuesday morning and are working to determine if it's connected to a similar incident last week.

Kanawha County sheriff's deputies were called to the 200 block of Winfield Road at about 6:45 a.m. after an 18-year-old woman said a man tried to kidnap her, said Lt. Sean Crosier. The teen said she was waiting for the school bus when a white cargo van pulled up and a middle-aged man jumped out and tried to grab her.

A black truck traveling north on Winfield Road got close and the suspect became scared and fled, Crosier said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A woman found hiding in a clothes dryer by police this week was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for possessing materials used to make methamphetamine on Friday.

Charleston Police Cpl. Keith Peoples said he and Deputy U.S. Marshal William Seckman discovered Paula Gibson, 29, hiding in a front-load dryer in a trailer on Third Avenue North near St. Albans on Thursday. Authorities were looking for her because she missed her sentencing date on Dec. 29.

Peoples said an unidentified woman came out of the trailer, and shouted to Gibson that the police were there and that she needed come out. Police heard a noise inside the trailer and went inside to search, Peoples told Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom on Friday.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. --  A Kanawha County man faces sexual assault charges after he allegedly forced an ex-girlfriend into having sex with him behind a store in Elkview.

In the early morning hours of Jan. 15, the female assault victim, 35, left a friend's house in Elkview and began walking. She told police her ex-boyfriend, Kenny L. Harper, 27, of Little Sandy Road in Elkview, began to follow her, according to the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

The victim told police that Harper forced her into having sexual intercourse behind the NAPA store in Elkview, even though she had resisted physically and verbally, according to the Sheriff's Department.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kanawha County sheriff's deputies missed their man on Tuesday, but recovered about $50,000 worth of stolen property.

Lt. Bryan Stover said deputies went to a site on Sexton Road near Tornado about 10 a.m. Tuesday to investigate a drug tip. Once there, Stover said, they found a camper trailer parked at the property and knocked on the door.

Stover said a man jumped out the back window of the trailer and ran into the woods, getting away. But deputies soon discovered a 2008 John Deere all-terrain vehicle reported stolen over the weekend from the St. Albans National Guard Armory. The ATV was worth about $12,000.

Kenny Kemp

Kanawha County Detective John Ratliff takes photographs of evidence from the scene of a shooting at the intersection of Pinewood and South Pinch roads in Pinch Tuesday morning. One man was wounded in the shooting, which resulted from an argument.

PINCH, W.Va. -- One man was arrested and another was hospitalized after an argument erupted in gunfire Tuesday morning in Pinch.

Kanawha County sheriff's deputies responded to the 10 a.m. call at the corner of Pinewood and South Pinch roads. They found the victim, Lucas Scott Burdette, 23, of Pinch, shot in the arm. The bullet went cleanly through, and Burdette was transported to CAMC General Hospital.

The suspect -- Corey Roush, 22, of Pinch -- called 911 to turn himself in shortly after the shooting.

Aaron D. Hudgins, 29, was arrested Saturday and charged with kidnapping and sexual assault after a 26-year-old acquaintance told deputies that Hudgins choked her until she was unconscious and then raped her several times, according to Lt. Sean Crosier of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

Crosier said the victim suffered numerous injuries and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Hudgins was being held without bond Monday at the South Central Regional Jail.

Kenneth Gallaspie

Kenneth Paul Gallaspie, 28, allegedly got drunk Wednesday and got into a fight with his girlfriend, Emily Beth Carter, 27, at the couple's home on Walnut Valley Drive in Cross Lanes, according to Lt. Sean Crosier of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

Deputies were called to the home at about 7:50 p.m., where they discovered Carter with a softball-sized lump on her forehead, Crosier said. Carter told deputies Gallaspie had hit her with his fists and a wooden chair leg.

Carter's sister, Melody Carter, 34, and another friend, Lisa Marteny, 39, who were at the house and tried to help Emily Carter ward off Gallaspie, were also attacked, Crosier said. Crosier said Gallaspie allegedly hit Marteny in the head with a chair leg, splitting open her forehead.

James "Jimmy" Sigmond

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Police have arrested a man who they say shot a man in the back in Elkview Tuesday.

James "Jimmy" Sigmond, 38, of Elkview, shot David Sharp, 32, in the lower back at about 1 p.m. Tuesday at a home on Beckett Branch Road in Elkview, said Lt. Bryan Stover of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

Sharp was taken to Charleston Area Medical Center's General Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Stover said.

Police responded to a call that a large group of people was fighting in the parking lot about 7:10 p.m. Monday. The caller also said there was gunfire, according to police.

When Cpl. J.S. Cochran arrived at the scene, several people were still fighting. As Cochran approached the group, Fred W. Hammon Jr., 29, of Dalewood Drive, Cross Lanes, allegedly tossed a handgun in his direction.

Police arrested Hammon and charged him with three counts of wanton endangerment for allegedly firing the pistol and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Anthony Wayne Randolph, 21, of Dover Drive, Cross Lanes, was charged with two counts of unlawful wounding for hitting two people with brass knuckles, Crosier said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kanawha County sheriff's deputies are investigating two home invasions in the eastern end of the county.

Lt. Sean Crosier said two men burst through the door of a house in Dupont City at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday as the homeowner and a friend were watching television.

Crosier said the men waved guns at the two men in the house and demanded drugs. They then pistol-whipped both men before stealing prescription drugs. Crosier said the homeowner is physically handicapped and unable to defend himself.

Staff at Pinch Elementary School contacted Kanawha County sheriff's deputies in April about missing money and fraudulent activity in the school's PTO account, said Lt. Bryan Stover of the sheriff's department.

Stover said deputies began an extensive investigation, talking with school representatives and banking officials.

Deputies arrested Sarah Harless, 33, of Elkview on Monday and charged her with embezzlement, credit card fraud and identity theft, Stover said. Deputies believe Harless, who was PTO vice president and treasurer, embezzled about $13,000 from bank accounts set up with Chase and United banks.

John Reed II

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A man who police say stabbed his wife numerous times in front of her 7-year-old daughter is still on the loose and police are asking for the public's help.

On July 27, John Reed II, 29, met his ex-wife, Melissa Taylor, on Maywood Avenue in Clendenin and allegedly stabbed her numerous times in front of Taylor's daughter, according to the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

Reed allegedly stole Taylor's vehicle, a 2003 Chevrolet Cavalier with "Melissa" in yellow letters across the front windshield and a Chevrolet emblem on the back window, according to the sheriff's department.

Lt. Sean Crosier of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department said deputies were called to Booker T. Washington Park in Malden just before 9 a.m. Sunday to investigate reports of a man masturbating in public.

Once they got to the park, they allegedly found Eddie Manuel Campbell, 61, of Witcher Creek Road, sitting on a park bench in plain view of passing motorists, Crosier said. Police said Campbell had one arm around a mannequin and was touching himself with the other.

Campbell was arrested and charged with indecent exposure. He was in the South Central Regional Jail this morning in lieu of $2,500 bond.

Edward W. McDougal Jr., 39, of Charleston, was driving with his family at about 8 p.m. when a tree fell on his 2002 Chevrolet Malibu near Matchlock Road, near the entrance to Kanawha State Forest, according to Lt. Sean Crosier of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

Crosier said high winds and lightning from a severe storm traveling through the area caused the tree to fall. He said McDougal lost control of the car when the tree hit, causing him to veer off the road and hit another tree.

Linda McDougal, 62, was killed in the crash, Crosier said. Edward McDougal, Kyle McDougal, 15, Cynthia McDougal, 12, were taken to the hospital with less serious injuries.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kanawha County sheriff's deputies arrested a woman wanted on criminal charges in Tennessee.

Acting on a tip, deputies went to 803 Pinewood Drive near Dunbar on Tuesday, where they found Amy Dawn Reed, 23, according to Lt. Bryan Stover of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

A check of computer records showed that Reed, also known as Amy Dawn Baker, was wanted in Tennessee on charges of failing to appear in court for a shoplifting charge, violation of a court order and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kanawha County officials were on the scene of a wreck this morning that involved a Kanawha County sheriff's deputy.

A sheriff's department spokesman said a woman apparently ran a red light at Clendenin and Quarrier streets about 9:45 a.m. and hit a cruiser being driven by Sgt. Eric Drennan of the sheriff's department.

Drennan was not seriously injured, but was going to a local hospital as a precaution.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A man wanted by Indiana police was found by Kanawha County sheriff's deputies in Campbells Creek on Monday.

Detectives went to a mobile home on Springfield Drive Monday night to investigate a burglary, according to Lt. Bryan Stover of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department. They found George Leo Layton, 59, at the mobile home, Stover said.

After checking Layton's background, deputies discovered he was wanted in Indiana on parole violation charges, Stover said. He said deputies also found chemicals and equipment for making methamphetamine.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kanawha County sheriff's deputies are investigating an early morning stabbing in Clendenin.

Deputies went to a home on Youngstown Road just after midnight and found James Shafer, 43, sitting on a cooler in the yard with apparent stab wounds to his leg and back, according to Lt. Bryan Stover.

Deputies believe Shafer and his girlfriend, Jeanie Woods, 26, got into an argument that turned violent before Woods allegedly stabbed Shafer. Stover said details remain sketchy because neither Shafer nor Woods is cooperating with investigators.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A St. Albans man was arrested Friday after police say he broke into a Kanawha County Sheriff's Department cruiser late Wednesday.

Sheriff's Department Lt. Bryan Stover said Sgt. Eric Drennan got into his cruiser at his Nitro home on Thursday morning and noticed that several items were missing from the vehicle.

Stover said Drennan's car-mounted computer, radar unit, flashlight, dress uniform hat, sunglasses and cell phone had all been stolen from the cruiser. The total value of the stolen items came to more than $6,300, according to a criminal complaint on file in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.

Lt. Sean Crosier of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department said a man walked into the Exxon station in Big Chimney about 5:30 p.m. and told the clerk that "something bad" would happen unless he was given money. The suspect took an undisclosed amount of cash and fled on foot toward the Big Chimney bridge.

Deputies are looking for a white male in his early 20s, about six feet, five inches tall and slender. He was last seen wearing gray basketball shorts, a long-sleeved polo style shirt and a black silky hood with eye holes.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call 304-357-0169.

Guy Edward Jones, 60, of Derrick's Creek Road near Sissonville, allegedly came home after a night of drinking late Sunday and got mad because his wife, Beverly Jones, didn't have dinner on the table, said Lt. Sean Crosier of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

Crosier said the couple got into a fight and Mrs. Jones ran to a neighbor's house. Crosier said she turned around to see flames coming out of the basement and her husband coming out of the basement door.

Guy Jones was arrested and charged with first-degree arson. He was in the South Central Regional Jail this morning in lieu of $50,000 bond.

Charles Woodson

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Two men attacked another inside his Rand home and stabbed him in the chest early Thursday, police reported.

The men were the husband and son of a woman who was staying at the house, police said.

Kanawha County sheriff's deputies responded to a house on Glenville Lane at about 2:30 a.m. and found Rock Hudson Williams holding a blood-soaked towel to his chest, according to a statement from Lt. Sean Crosier.

Sheila "Kathy" Goble, 62, of Charleston, was last seen leaving Kelly's Men's Shop on Charleston's West Side at about 5 p.m. Saturday, according to Lt. Sean Crosier of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kanawha County sheriff's deputies are searching for a woman missing from the Charleston area since Saturday.

Sheila "Kathy" Goble, 62, of Charleston, was last seen leaving Kelly's Men's Shop on Charleston's West Side at about 5 p.m. Saturday, according to Lt. Sean Crosier of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

Deputies believe Goble may have then gone to the Watt's Hill area and possibly Kenna Drive in South Charleston.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Kanawha County man was arrested Tuesday after deputies caught him growing marijuana in his home, police said.

Jay A. Rexroad, 41, of Elkview, was charged with felony counts of cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, according to Lt. Bryan Stover of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

Stover said deputies went to Rexroad's home on Tyree Circle on Tuesday after getting a tip that Rexroad was growing and selling marijuana. He said deputies could smell marijuana as they approached Rexroad's house.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kanawha County sheriff's deputies are looking for two men who stole a truck in Elkview on Thursday.

According to Lt. Bryan Stover of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department, deputies went to a home on Timberdale Drive in Elkview about 3 p.m. Thursday to respond to a call about a burglary in progress. When they got there, a woman who lived at the house said she discovered two unknown men in her garage.

The men, who are thought to be in their 20s, ran away when she confronted them, Stover said. One jumped into the victim's dark blue 2009 Ford F-150 pickup truck and sped away. The other drove off in a burgundy 2008 Ford F-150 that the pair had apparently arrived in.

RAND, W.Va. -- Kanawha County sheriff's deputies are looking for two men who tried to rob a man in Rand early Wednesday.

According to Lt. Bryan Stover, two men went to a home in the 5700 block of Raven Drive at about 3 a.m. and knocked on the door. According to the 60-year-old resident, he opened the door to see two men pointing guns at him.

Stover said the two men forced their way inside the house. He said the victim's dog then started barking at the pair.

Lt. Sean Crosier of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department said an accident in Elkview sent two men to the hospital Tuesday afternoon. Later that night, a Putnam County man was arrested after hitting a guardrail on Interstate 64. Crosier said alcohol was a factor in both accidents.

Crosier said deputies got a report a little after 4 p.m. Tuesday about two men who appeared to be extremely intoxicated leaving the parking lot of the Speedway store in Elkview in a green Geo Metro. Deputy M.S. Sims arrived almost immediately, then received a second call about a car in a creek about a mile away.

Witnesses and Sims discovered the Metro on its top in the creek. Crosier said Sims and bystanders pulled the driver, 31-year-old Travis Jason Moore of Walton, and his 66-year-old passenger, Orville Paxton, out of the car.

SISSONVILLE, W.Va. --  A 31-year-old Beckley man was arrested Sunday night after a failed holdup attempt at a Sissonville gas station, according to the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

A clerk at the BP station on Call Road in Sissonville reported an attempted robbery after a man entered the station about 10 p.m., gestured that he had a gun, and demanded money from the cash register. The man fled the store after the clerk refused his demand.

Deputies responding were given a description of the suspect and his vehicle, which Deputy A.R. Crawford spotted traveling south on Interstate 77 near the Sissonville exit.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kanawha County sheriff's deputies are looking for two men believed to be responsible for the Saturday-night robbery of a St. Albans man along Winfield Road just outside the St. Albans city limits.

Deputies said Brian Adkins, 26, of West Hamlin, summoned his cousin, Danny Hitchcock of St. Albans, to the scene at about 9:30 p.m. to borrow money for gasoline.

Shortly after Hitchcock entered Adkins' car, Adkins and his brother, Shane Adkins, 19, began beating Hitchcock in the head and face, and then used a seat belt to restrain him, deputies said. Hitchcock managed to free himself, leave the car, and run a short distance before the Adkins brothers caught him, beat him, and stole his wallet and medication before driving off, deputies said.

ST. ALBANS, W.Va. -- No charges are expected to be filed in a Friday car-pedestrian collision in Jefferson that claimed the life of a 53-year-old Jackson County man, according to the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

Deputies said it has not yet been determined whether Tony R. Skeens of Kenna had been attempting to cross or was walking along MacCorkle Avenue when he was struck by a sport-utility vehicle driven by Randall Patrick of St. Albans.

Patrick stopped his vehicle immediately after hearing a noise and saw a pedestrian on the ground, according to Sheriff's Department spokesman Lt. Sean Crosier. Skeens was pronounced dead shortly after the 5:30 p.m. incident, which occurred in front of Tomahawk's Club.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A 12-year-old girl was knocked unconscious and taken to the hospital after getting into a fistfight with a 15-year-old student in the parking lot of Elkview Middle School early Monday.

The two juvenile females apparently got off the same school bus Monday morning and started to fight with each other, said Kanawha County Sheriff's Department Lt. Bryan Stover.

The 15-year-old girl apparently hit the younger girl multiple times and knocked her to the ground, where she fell unconscious, Stover said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- An off-duty Kanawha County sheriff's deputy helped thwart a robbery Sunday in Elkview.

Deputy W.S. Hunter was putting gas in his personal car at the Little General store in Elkview about 9:30 p.m. Sunday when he noticed a white Chevrolet Malibu pull up without license plates, according to Lt. Bryan Stover of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

Stover said one man got out of the car, pulled his hood over his head and walked inside while two others waited in the car. A few seconds later, the man allegedly came running out of the store with two cases of beer in hand.

HERNSHAW, W.Va. -- Police found a man with a knife sticking out of his stomach in Hernshaw Monday evening after he allegedly stabbed himself.

A local resident called 911 after they found the man lying on the side of Left Fork Road, surrounded by blood and with a knife sticking out of his stomach, according to a Metro 911 dispatcher.

According to the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department, the man apparently stabbed himself after an alleged fight with his girlfriend.

Jacob Samples

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Cross Lanes man was in jail Tuesday in connection with a Monday morning bank robbery.

Kanawha County sheriff's deputies caught up with Jacob McCoy Samples, 23, within 12 hours of the robbery of the Poca Valley Bank in Clendenin, according to Lt. Bryan Stover of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

Police said a man wearing a hooded Marshall University sweatshirt, blue jeans and a mask walked into the bank on Spencer Road about 9:30 a.m. Monday, pulled a gun and demanded money. He fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash.

CLENDENIN, W.Va. -- Kanawha County authorities are looking for a man who robbed the Poca Valley Bank in Clendenin on Monday.

According to Lt. Bryan Stover of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department, the man walked into the bank brandishing a gun about 9:30 a.m. and demanded money. He then fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash.

The man is described as white, between 5 feet 6 and 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing about 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing a dark-colored Marshall sweatshirt with a white T-shirt underneath, light-colored blue jeans and white tennis shoes with dark soles. He also used a dark piece of clothing to cover his head and face.

Michael Mason

AMANDAVILLE, W.Va. -- Two men have been arrested for stealing a car in Charleston earlier this week.

Michael Mason, 20, of Dunbar, and Robert Thomas, 22, of Pineville, were driving a gold 2002 Chevrolet Malibu erratically in the Gateway Shopping Center in Amandaville around 2 a.m. Friday morning, according to the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

Police signaled for the two young men to stop driving and pull over, but they sped away onto Kanawha Terrace heading west. Deputy J.M. Vernon pursued the vehicle and learned that the car had been reported stolen from Charleston on Tuesday.

Daniel Shane Ferrell

Deputies responded to a reported breaking and entering at the Dollar General Store on Doc Bailey Road about 1:40 a.m., said Lt. Bryan Stover of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department. The suspects had run away by the time deputies got there, but Stover said deputies found evidence that someone had broken into the store.

The would-be thieves apparently tried to make off with the store's safe, but were thwarted because the safe was bolted to the floor.

About 15 minutes later, deputies got a call about breaking glass at Debbie G's Bar at the intersection of Big Tyler Road and Washington Street West. Again, the suspects got away, but Stover said a witness followed their car and called 911 from his cell phone.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- An 18-year-old fugitive from Roane County was found this morning in Kanawha County hiding in his grandmother's freezer.

Joshua James Harrison, 18, cut off his electronic-monitoring ankle bracelet and fled from his home in Roane County, according to a Kanawha County Sheriff's Department press release. He was wanted on charges of robbery, grand larceny, brandishing a weapon and wanton endangerment.

Police received tips that he was hiding at his grandmother's residence in Sissonville and went to the apartment at about 7 a.m. Thursday, said Kanawha Sheriff's Lt. Bryan Stover.

MALDEN, W.Va. -- Kanawha County sheriff's deputies recovered the body this afternoon of a Malden man missing since March 7.

Lt. Bryan Stover of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department said a gas company employee found the body of Richard McCarty, 42, on a hillside above U.S. 60 about 12:30 p.m. McCarty's family had reported him missing on March 7.

Stover said McCarty appears to have committed suicide.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Two people were killed early this morning when their sport utility vehicle ran off the road near Cross Lanes.

James Scott Legg, 20, and Robert Paul Cottrell, 25, both of Charleston, were heading south on West Washington Street about 12:45 a.m. when the Chevy Tahoe that Legg was driving ran off the road between Cross Lanes and Charleston, said Lt. Bryan Stover of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

The vehicle smashed into a large tree, killing both men.

Lt. Sean Crosier of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department said anyone who recognizes any of the three is asked to contact the sheriff's office at 357-0169.

The two men and one woman are suspected of stealing a purse from a car at Bobby's Bar & Grill in Cross Lanes on Jan. 11. They are then suspected of forging checks from the purse at a nearby Kroger store.

Crosier said the woman is believed to work at one or several exotic show bars in Jefferson.