Three arrested for assault, kidnapping

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. – Three people face multiple charges after police say they held a victim against their will and assaulted them.

According to a Monday news release from Lt. Josh Stewart with the Poplar Bluff Police Department, officers arrested the following people on suspicion of assault, kidnapping, and drug-related charges:

• Zakary Gilliland, 22, of Poplar Bluff
• Jessica Barnette, 29, of Camden, Tennessee
• Frederick Meyer, 31, of Poplar Bluff

On March 24 officers responded to a local bank where a customer told a teller they had been held against their will.

The victim told police they had been physically assaulted for several hours before the suspects took them to the bank to withdraw an undisclosed amount of money.

Investigators later executed a search warrant at a home in the 900-block of Park Street where they Stewart said they found “a quantity of suspected illegal narcotics and drug paraphernalia.”

He also said police found “evidence of the assault.”

Stewart said the incident remains under active investigation and more arrests are anticipated.