Staff Report

SYRACUSE — A Warsaw man was arrested in Elkhart County after allegedly preventing a woman from leaving a vehicle and threatening law enforcement.

John F. Shepherd Jr., 33, 1904 Rosemont Ave., Warsaw, is charged with criminal confinement using a vehicle, a level 5 felony; intimidation, a level 6 felony; and resisting law enforcement, a class A misdemeanor.

On March 13, an Elkhart County Sheriff’s officer responded to a call north of Syracuse about a woman being held in a vehicle against her will.

According to court documents, the officer spoke with the woman, who said she went to a job interview with Shepherd. However, after the interview, Shepherd became irritable and drove erratically, almost turning over the vehicle while the woman was in it.

The woman said she asked Shepherd to let her out of the vehicle multiple times, but he refused to stop. The woman is disabled and could not jump out of the vehicle.

While being taken into custody, Shepherd allegedly acted erratically, moving his hands around and attempting to flee from law enforcement.

Officers eventually had to deploy a taser to take Shepherd into custody.

In an interview with law enforcement, Shepherd said he stopped at a stop sign for about 15 seconds when the woman told him she wanted to get out of the vehicle. Shepherd told officers he did not tell the woman to get out of the car at that time.

During the conversation, Shepherd said he could “take this charge to a Level 1,” which officers took to mean he was threatening to either injure or kill them. He also made several comments about fighting with law enforcement.

While being placed into a police vehicle, Shepherd threatened to get into a fight in jail and kill someone, stating he was being arrested for a crime he did not commit.

A photo of Shepherd was unavailable for publication.