GREENFIELD — The incident was originally listed as a welfare check after a woman with a Netflix account turned her user name into a desperate plea for help.
“Call 911, help me,” it said.
A friend who shares an account with the woman saw the alarming change on Monday, Nov. 1, and called police. He asked officials to check on the woman at a residence on Brook Street. The friend told officials he had not heard from the woman for several hours and that she was with a man against whom she had an expired protective order.
According to a probable cause affidavit, when police arrived at the address around 9:30 p.m. the woman told officers that Roy E. Phelps Jr. 54, Greenfield, had been holding her hostage since the day before and had just run out the back of the residence. Police soon spotted him in a truck on North Street.
A brief chase occurred before Phelps was stopped and arrested in the front yard of a home in the 100 block of Howard Street.
The woman had bruising and lacerations around her mouth and told officers that Phelps had a knife and threatened to kill her when she tried to leave. According to the affidavit, he told her, “If I can’t have you, then no one can.” The woman told investigators every time she tried to leave, Phelps would knock her down and strike her in the face. He eventually took her upstairs, where he tried to smother her with a pillow, the affidavit said, and put a power drill to her head, threatening her life.
As of late last week, the case against Phelps was just one of 407 domestic violence cases investigated by the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department and the GPD so far this year. The bulk of the reports, 271, have been investigated by the sheriff’s department, GPD detectives have looked into 136 incidents to date.
“Believe it or not, that is down three from the same time frame last year, but is still too high,” said Chuck McMichael, GPD deputy chief and public information officer.
GPD investigators worked 17 domestic violence cases in October, up from 12 in September. They expect those number to continue to increase as days get shorter and temperatures drop.
“As the weather gets worse and people are more apt to stay inside, we see upticks in these types of calls,” McMichael said.
Capt. Robert Harris, public information officer for the sheriff’s department, said they also typically see an increase in domestic disturbances when there are long cold streaks, and around the holidays.
“When I was still on patrol many of these incidents resulted from family members being cooped in a house for long periods, and almost always some level of alcohol consumption,” Harris said.
Sheriff’s officials looked into 28 domestic violence complaints in September and 30 in October. Other than August, when they investigated 40 cases, those are the highest totals so far this year.
Regardless of the month, officials note most domestic violence charges are categorized as misdemeanors and don’t offer much reason for deterrence to abusers. However, Harris said, other, more severe charges, such as in the Phelps case, can and will be added when possible.
“Much like operating-while-intoxicated charges, there are factors that can enhance a domestic violence situation to include felony charges,” Harris said.
Those enhancements can include situations where children are present; causing injury to another person; using a weapon; strangulation; or other abusive action.
As for Phelps, he’s been charged with seven crimes, including a Level 3 felony count of criminal confinement armed with a deadly weapon; two Level 5 felony counts of intimidation; and Level 6 felony charges of domestic violence; resisting law enforcement; and strangulation. He also faces a Class A misdemeanor count of interference in the reporting of a crime.
The most serious charge against Phelps carries a sentence of up to 16 years in prison.
Phelps made an initial appearance Friday, Nov. 5, in Hancock County Circuit Court, where Judge Scott Sirk entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf and set a $30,000 cash bond subject to a no-contact order. Phelps has a pretrial conference set for Jan. 11, 2022.
There is help available to people in abusive relationships. County officials have a victim advocate, Rebekah Steele from Alternatives, Inc. She has an office at the police department and can be reached at 317-462-8777 or by email at [email protected]. There is also a crisis line at 866-593-9999 people in domestic abuse situations can call. Their website is www.alternativesdv.org.
“Thankfully organizations like Alternatives Inc. provide victim’s advocate services to help victims of domestic violence navigate available resources,” Harris said. “However, there is still more to be done to help raise awareness, detect domestic abuse sooner, and help families avoid being victims of domestic violence.”
