Police charge second man in Lawrence County torture

Sunday, May 09, 2010
By Michael A. Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A second suspect has been charged in the kidnapping, beating and bizarre torture of an 18-year-old man in Lawrence County early Wednesday.

State police have obtained an arrest warrant for Fred Cook Jr., 32, of Enon Valley, who remains at large. He is the brother of Jack Patterson II, 25, of Enon Valley, who since his arrest Wednesday has been held in the Lawrence County Jail on $100,000 bond.

Both men are charged with unlawful restraint, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and conspiracy. A preliminary hearing for Mr. Patterson is scheduled for Thursday before Ellwood City District Judge Jerry G. Cartwright.

Police are also looking for as many as four more suspects who are believed to have been involved in the crimes against Vincent Lepiane, an Enon Valley native who now lives in the South Hills.

Mr. Lepiane, who spent several days in the hospital for face, head and wrist injuries sustained in the attack, told police the men said they targeted him because they believed he had burglarized Mr. Patterson's home on Saturday. Mr. Lepiane, a thoroughbred exercise rider at Mountaineer Park in Chester, W.Va., denies burglarizing the Patterson home. The burglary was reported to state police, but no arrest has been made in that case.

Mr. Lepiane told police he was beaten in the Enon Valley Inn, a restaurant-bar, and forced to the parking lot, where he was beaten again and forced into a vehicle by the two brothers and another man.

He said he was driven a short distance to a wooded area near a creek in Little Beaver, where he said he was thrown into the creek. His attackers then tied him to a tree, beat him more on the face and head, urinated on him and threw a rotting deer carcass on him, he said.

Tabitha Kent, 26, Mr. Patterson's live-in girlfriend, said he told her he punched Mr. Lepiane in the parking lot, but said that was all he did.

Charlie Cook, 26, of Enon Valley, a brother to both Mr. Patterson and Fred Cook, and Shelby Barber, 15, of Enon Valley, a cousin of the brothers, said that before he went on the run, Fred Cook informed them he was involved in the kidnapping, beating and torture with men he knew from East Liverpool, Ohio, where his girlfriend lives.

From: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10129/1056852-455.stm