A 43-year-old Callao man faces two felony charges after another man told investigators he was forced at gunpoint to damage a vehicle in August, then threatened into taking the blame, court records show.
Macon County Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Meisner filed the charges Wednesday against Roy James Thompson in Macon County Circuit Court.
Thompson is charged with unlawful use of a weapon by exhibiting, a class E felony; tampering with a witness in a felony prosecution, a class D felony; and fourth-degree assault, a class C misdemeanor.
Meisner asked the court to issue a warrant for Thompson’s arrest. As of Thursday, the docket showed the warrant request but did not list a bond, a court date, or an attorney for Thompson.
According to the probable cause statement by Lt. Tyler Robinson of the Macon County Sheriff’s Office, the sheriff’s office began investigating damage to a vehicle Aug. 8 and developed Thompson as a suspect. He was taken into custody that day and later charged with damaging the vehicle.
During Thompson’s Oct. 7 appearance in the Macon County court, a man the statement describes as an associate of Thompson’s made comments suggesting he may have been involved in the damage. Robinson interviewed him.
The man told Robinson that Thompson drove him to the vehicle, pointed a black powder rifle at him, and told him to take a sledgehammer from the Hummer they were riding in and damage the vehicle or be shot. The man said he did it because he feared for his life.
He later gave Sgt. Holt Landorf a written statement that implicated only himself, according to the statement. He told Robinson he wrote it because Thompson threatened to put him and his wife out of their home and to “Green Light” the Aryan Brotherhood on them.
Deputies served a search warrant Oct. 15 at property Thompson owns and seized five firearms or replica firearms from his home, the statement says. Two were black powder rifles similar to the guns the man described.
Charges are accusations. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.