BUCKHANNON – A Buckhannon man was arrested Sunday after allegedly stealing a vehicle and violating a protective order.
Stewart Mullens, 42, was arrested for grand larceny, a felony, and violation of a protective order, a misdemeanor.
According to the criminal complaint in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by investigating officer Patrolman Angel McCauley with the Buckhannon Police Department, on Friday, Feb. 26, McCauley responded to Cleveland Avenue in reference to a stolen vehicle. McCauley met the victim who said her ex-boyfriend, Mullens, stayed at her house the previous night and at about 5 a.m. she woke up to him “hitting the bed beside her pillow with a sharpened object,” the file says.
The victim said the object punctured her sheet, all the way down to her bedframe.
According to the report, after she woke up, Mullens ran outside, and she heard her car start up and drive away. The car was described as a slate blue 2004 Ford Escape.
On Feb. 28, McCauley again responded to Cleveland Avenue regarding the violation of a protective order. According to the report, Mullens was on the porch when McCauley arrived, and the blue Ford Escape that was previously allegedly stolen by Mullens was in the parking lot, according to the file. The victim, Mullens’s ex-girlfriend, said her house keys were on the car keys, which was how Mullens gained access to the house. She was unsure how long he had been there, but he was there when she woke up, the police report says.
The protective order was granted Feb. 17, 2021 and Mullens had previously been successfully served, according to the complaint.
Bail was set at $20,000.
The penalty for a conviction of grand larceny is confinement in the state penitentiary for not less than one nor more than 10 years or, in the discretion of the court, confinement in jail for not more than one year and a fine of not more than $2,500. The penalty for violation of a protective order is confinement in jail for a period of not less than one day nor more than one year, and the jail term shall include actual confinement of not less than 24 hours and the person shall be fined not less than $250 nor more than $2,000.
