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BEVERLY -- A Randolph County man is behind bars after allegedly getting into a physical altercation with another man and then ramming his truck into the other man's vehicle.
Faustino Jason Stokes, 52, of Elkins, was charged with destruction of property. He is being held in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $5,000 cash-only bond, set by Magistrate Mike Dyer.
The criminal complaint, prepared by Trooper Thomas J. Sclimenti of the West Virginia State Police, states that on June 19, a man and a woman came to the Elkins State Police office and reported an alleged assault that took place at their residence in Beverly earlier that night.
The man said he had "noticed a white box truck in his driveway" and "walked out to speak to the driver," who he recognized as Stokes, according to the complaint. When the woman came outside, Stokes allegedly "began yelling at her" and saying "he would beat (her) a**."
Stokes allegedly got out of the box truck and "charged" at the woman, but the man got between them and "put Mr. Stokes on the ground, asking (him) if he was done," the complaint states. The man then allegedly "let Stokes up from the ground and began to get into his pickup truck to leave."
"At this time," Stokes "used his box truck to ram (the man's) pickup truck, causing the pickup to strike" the woman, according to the complaint.
The woman told police she had heard a vehicle outside, looked out the window and observed Stokes in a white box truck, which sat in the driveway for about 40 minutes, the complaint states. She said the man didn't want to "go deal with (Stokes) because they had issues in the past," but they eventually had to go somewhere, and were accosted by Stokes while they were trying to leave.
She said when Stokes rammed the pickup truck with the box truck, she was "standing between the doors of (the) extended cab pickup truck" and the impact "caused the doors to strike (her)," according to the complaint.
Sclimenti wrote that he observed the pickup truck to "have serious damage to the bed and tailgate, with white paint transfer on the passenger side of the tailgate and the hitch." K&K Collision quoted an estimate of $7,083.84 to repair the damage to the pickup, the complaint states.
Sclimenti also wrote that on the next day, June 20, Stokes' box truck showed "heavy damage to the vehicle's front bumper and passenger side fender, with gray paint transfer of a similar color to" the pickup truck. "The scratches and gouges on Mr. Stokes' vehicle were fresh, with no rust having set in," the officer wrote, adding that he "observed empty bottles of alcoholic beverage beside the driver's seat of the vehicle."
Stokes allegedly told the officer that the other man had beaten him up, and blocked his way out of the driveway with his pickup truck, causing the visible damage to the two vehicles.