Kidnapping suspect in court; has violent history with woman

The Colusa man accused of the recent kidnapping of a Yuba City woman and beating her during a 10-day captivity, pleaded guilty in late February to false imprisonment of the same woman.

Jermaine L. Roberts, 35, appeared in Colusa County Superior Court on Wednesday for the new case in which he is charged with a host of felonies, including kidnapping, false imprisonment, oral copulation by force and assault with a deadly weapon not a firearm, with the likelihood of great bodily injury.

Other charges in the complaint are two counts of threatening to commit a crime with the intent to terrorize, robbery, burglary, the sale of an access card with the intent to commit fraud, inflicting corporal injury upon a spouse or cohabitant, and battery causing serious bo ily injury.

Attorney Brandon Williams was assigned to represent Roberts, who is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 13 to enter a plea and set a preliminary hearing.

Roberts reportedly forced the woman, 33, to drive back to his Oak Street home after he found her sitting in a car on the 500 block of Clay Street about 11 p.m. on New Year's Eve, the police reported.

The woman's 3-year-old son was asleep in the back seat at the time of the reported incident.

The woman and the boy escaped about 5 p.m. on Jan. 10.

A motorist saw her and took her to the Sheriff's Department, after which she was taken to Colusa Regional Medical Center for treatment of injuries police said are consistent with her claims that Roberts beat her severely, police said.

Roberts and the woman apparently had a relationship in the past, but it had been over for several months, the police reported.

The case has a similar feel to one that started in the early hours of Jan. 24, 2012.

Colusa County sheriff's deputies received a call around 1:45 a.m. from a friend of the reported victim.

Roberts apparently had walked down to where the two women were on the 1300 block of Clay Street, grabbed the car keys from the friend but belonging to the reported victim.

According to the Sheriff's Department, Roberts grabbed the woman and started to carry her back toward his home, but released her when he heard sirens.

Deputies were called back to the home around 4 a.m. and found Roberts, who reportedly had been banging on the door and demanding money.

On Feb. 29, Roberts pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor count of false imprisonment as part of a plea agreement and was sentenced with a fine and given credit for time served in jail.

That amounted to a little more than a month.

Roberts is in the Colusa County Jail. Bail is set at $315,000.