Schoonover

ELKINS — An Elkins man is facing felony charges after allegedly beating a sleeping man with a baseball bat.

Jeremey Keith Schoonover, 46, has been charged with malicious wounding and burglary. He is being held in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $30,000 cash-only bond, set by Randolph County Magistrate Mike Dyer.

According to the criminal complaint, prepared by Trooper N.R. Hall of the Elkins Detachment of the West Virginia State Police, on Dec. 18 at about 10 p.m., Hall was dispatched to assist the Elkins Police Department on an active breaking and entering call on Gilmore Street in Elkins.

Upon arriving, Hall was told the address was outside Elkins city limits, the complaint states. He spoke to the alleged victim, a man who said he had been “woke up by being struck in the forehead by what he believed to be a baseball bat.” The alleged victim said he “placed his arms up in defense and then was struck in the arm.”

Hall observed the alleged victim’s right arm to be red and swollen, and saw “a noticeable and bloody mark on” his forehead, according to the complaint. The alleged victim said the person who struck him with the bat was Schoonover, who was then found in the “immediate area of the incident” by the Elkins Police Department.

Hall then spoke with another person who lives in the home, who said Schoonover came to their residence and knocked on the door. She said she opened the door and that Schoonover “came into the residence without permission, went to (the alleged victim) and struck him with an object, but (she) was unsure what the object was,” the complaint states.

She said Schoonover than struck the alleged victim in the arm with the object before leaving the residence.

If convicted of the charges against him, Schoonover could face one to five years in prison for the felony malicious wounding charge, and one to 15 years in prison for the felony burglary charge.