A Poplar Bluff man will spend the next nine years in prison after pleading guilty Thursday to drug possession, assault and kidnapping charges.
Ronnie Allen Jr., 41, was sentenced to nine years on a drug possession charge after his plea, according to Butler County Prosecutor Kacey Proctor.
Allen also was sentenced to seven years each on second-degree assault and second-degree kidnapping charges in another case.
“He was also set for trial on kidnapping and robbery, and he ended up pleading guilty on all of it,” Proctor said.
The sentences, Proctor said, will run concurrently.
The drug plea, Proctor said, was the result of a “simple drug case.”
In January 2019, Poplar Bluff police patrolmen responded to a report of suspicious activity at a local business, and upon arriving, recognized Allen from prior contacts.
A subsequent search and records check at the time revealed Allen had an outstanding warrant and was in possession of methamphetamine.
“He had some priors, so he got a nine-year sentence” on the drug possession charge, Proctor said.
The assault and kidnapping charges stemmed from an incident which occurred in August 2019 in Poplar Bluff.
The then 39-year-old was accused of “assaulting, firing a weapon at and tying up a 41-year-old male victim” inside a residence in the 900 block of Hickory Street, police Lt. Josh Stewart said at the time.
Detective Steve McCane’s probable cause statement from the incident said the male victim had gone to the residence to look for his vehicle and girlfriend when Allen “began beating him up and pulled out a pistol and shot two different times toward him.”
Allen also was accused of kidnapping the male victim’s girlfriend, who later was able to slip a note to someone with the home’s address before she was able to get away from Allen.
When police arrived at the home after getting a call about the note, they found the male victim bound with electrical cord and tape.
The victim’s car, Stewart said, was found in Corning, Arkansas.
Allen later was found hiding in the attic of the residence at 1104 Hickory St. and surrendered to police without incident.