SUSPECT WHO ASSAULTED ELDERLY WIRT MAN IS CAUGHT

(09/20/2005)
Three weeks after an elderly man was assaulted in his Wirt County home, authorities have arrested the two suspects in the case.

19-year old Johnny Lee Patterson of Point Pleasant has been arrested in Montgomery, Alabama.

Patterson and a 17-year-old female accomplice allegedly tied up, beat and robbed 82-year old Cleo Reynolds of Spring Valley.

Reynolds is recovering at a rehab center after he spent two weeks at a Morgantown hospital after being nearly strangled to death.

Patterson has waived extradition and is expected back in Wirt County in the next two weeks.

The Grand Jury convenes on Monday and Patterson is facing a robbery charge which carries a ten year prison sentence.

Authorities in both West Virginia and Alabama recovered money, vehicles, guns and other items allegedly purchased with thousands of dollars stolen from Reynolds.

The 17-year old female accomplice is being held in a juvenile detention center and is charged with one county of robbery.