By RACHEL C. DOVE

Staff Writer

RED JACKET - A father who had been ordered by Mingo County Family Court Judge Micah Thompson to have no contact with his daughters decided to disobey the law, and is said to have attempted to force the two 13-year-old juveniles into his vehicle while brandishing a handgun.

According to the criminal complaint filed by Mingo County Deputy Sheriff B.A. Moore on April 13, he responded to an emergency call at the home of Valerie Abbott (mother and guardian of the juveniles) at Shop Hollow in Red Jacket who alleged that Raymond Meade, 40, (father of the teens) also of Red Jacket, had used physical force and threats of further harm to force his daughters to get inside his Ford Mustang.

During a January 2012 hearing in family court, Judge Thompson had ordered the defendant to have no contact with his daughters until further notice, based on undisclosed findings that were the result of an official investigation.West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Child Protective Services Supervisor Jeannie Curry verified this information for Deputy Moore, and said Meade was in direct violation of a court order.

The female siblings told the deputy that after exiting the school bus and beginning their walk up Shop Hollow to their residence, their father pulled up beside them, grabbing one of them, bruising her arm and face. She said her father was shoving her toward the open door of his car, while yelling at the other juvenile to do the same.

The daughter who suffered the physical assault of the defendant further said that her father retrieved a silver handgun from inside the Mustang, showed it to her and allegedly said, “This is the gun I’m going to use to kill your mother, you and your sister.”

The sisters managed to get away from their father and ran to a neighbor’s house to safety, who then notified the mother and law enforcement. Warrants were issued against the defendant by Magistrate Pam Newsome.

Meade had eluded the police for several days, but was placed under arrest this Thursday by Deputy Moore and was charged with two counts of attempted kidnapping/enticing away, one count of brandishing and two counts of domestic battery.

Meade was arraigned before Magistrate Dallas Toler who set the defendant’s bail at $26,000. He was able to meet bond requirements and was released from custody, pending a preliminary hearing. The order remains in effect that prevents the defendant from having any contact with his daughters.