BUCKHANNON – A Buckhannon man remained in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail Monday on a $50,000 cash-only bond after he allegedly strangled his live-in girlfriend until she began to lose consciousness.
James Robert Arbogast, 46, was charged with strangulation, a felony, after he allegedly choked his girlfriend on Tuesday, Nov. 20, during a domestic altercation on Little Sand Run Road.
According to the file in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s office, Sgt. Anthony S. Taylor with the Buckhannon detachment of the West Virginia State Police responded to a domestic disturbance at a residence on Little Sand Run in Buckhannon.
Upon arriving on scene, Taylor’s report says he talked to the victim, who said she and Arbogast had been arguing.
During the conflict, Arbogast reportedly hit the victim and “choked her until she began to lose consciousness,” the complaint states.
The sergeant noted red marks on the victim’s neck that appeared consistent with her account of what had transpired.
Magistrate Kay Hurst arraigned Arbogast via video consent from the Tygart Valley Regional Jail Wednesday, Nov. 21.
The penalty for a conviction of strangulation is a fine of up to $2,500 or imprisonment in the state penitentiary from one to five years or both a fine and imprisonment.
