LAKE CITY, Fla. – A Lake City couple is behind bars Monday after police said they held a man and woman against their will at a motel. One of the victims was let go after days, the other was held for weeks.
According to police, a probation officer met with LCPD officers on Saturday to tell them about a recent visit with a woman on probation. Officer Harry Strohmetz told them something was not right during the visit.
Three officers went to an apartment on Pennsylvania Street to investigate. When they arrived, they found the woman on the porch with a fearful look on her face.
One officer approached the victim asking if she was OK. She appeared terrified, began crying and said, "They will kill me."
That woman then told Lake City police she was held against her will for three weeks.
The investigation revealed the 35-year-old woman and her 39-year-old ex-boyfriend were held against their will in the bathroom of the Jasmine Inn on Knights Avenue for three days at the end of June.
During that time, the woman told officers she was forced to withdraw several hundred dollars from TD Bank for their two captors, who police said were 27-year-old Kalandra Perry and 29-year-old Travis Brown.
The victim said she was also forced to withdraw more than $1,000 at the Walmart in Live Oak.
After the three days of imprisonment, the woman's ex-boyfriend was left at a local gas station. He didn't initially report the crime or the fact his ex-girlfriend was still being held against her will because he feared for his life, according to investigators. He later called probation Officer Strohmetz.
Becky Edenfield, a neighbor of the suspects, told News4Jax she thought all of this was shocking.
Another neighbor who did not want to be identified told News4Jax that ever since the two suspects moved in, the neighborhood has seen a rise in problems.
"Ever since they've been here, there's just been straight chaos over here. Usually it's very quiet neighborhood and nothing's going on. Now it's drama every day," the neighbor said.
After interviewing both victims, officers arrested Brown and Perry for two counts of false imprisonment and one count of exploitation of a disabled adult.
"I hope they stay there. They don't need to be out," Edenfield said
The female victim's debit card was recovered inside the home, rolled up in a sock at the bottom of a suitcase.
The victims' names were not released.
The suspects were taken to the Columbia County Detention Facility and each held with a $310,000 bond.