Pair arrested in torture

Man tells police he survived 7-hour ordeal

By CHRISTOPHER BOBBY Tribune Chronicle
WARREN — A Leavittsburg man said after he was kidnapped and tortured for seven hours Sunday, he finally told his captors to kill him and get it over with.

‘‘I didn’t want to die. But after seven hours, I told them, ‘Just shoot me, dude,’’’ said Shane DeSmith of Riverview Drive N.W. ‘‘I asked for a phone so I could tell my kids that I love ’em.’’

Recovering at home Tuesday after nearly a day in the hospital, DeSmith, 25, says he feels lucky to be alive considering a blowtorch, grinder and sledgehammer were among instruments used against him.

The ordeal, he said, was over a $50 bag of marijuana that he was fronted and still owed.

DeSmith said he was walking along Porter Street N.E. when a father and son pulled up near him and ordered him at gunpoint into their pickup truck. DeSmith said he had flagged them down because he had the money but they told him it ‘‘wasn’t good enough.’’

Police detectives said DeSmith was taken to a home on South Street S.E. about 4:30 p.m. and tied to a yellow chair in the basement where the two men live.

Then — as if out of scene from a movie — one of the men called two friends to come over to watch or take part in the torture. DeSmith said the two visitors went by the nicknames ‘‘Finny’’ and ‘‘Huey.’’

‘‘I didn’t know what to expect when they pulled out a blowtorch,’’ he said.

Warren detectives Wayne Mackey and Michael Currington said the group used the torch to heat up a screwdriver and a Mason jar, burning the back of his head and his arms.

‘‘You could smell my flesh burning,’’ DeSmith said.

At one point, the group tried to connect a battery charger to an earring in DeSmith’s ear.

An electric grinder with a 4-inch wheel was used to grind off the toes of DeSmith’s shoes, grinding away toenails. DeSmith said it almost severed one of his toes.

‘‘They used a 15-pound sledgehammer and beat on my hands, back and shoulders. I’m surprised my hands aren’t broken, but my knuckles are pretty beat up,’’ DeSmith said.

The man said he fell into unconsciousness about a half dozen times only to regain consciousness after more pain.

By 11:30 p.m., DeSmith said he was thrown into the back of the pickup, taken back home and ordered not to tell anyone.

Family members took DeSmith to Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital, from where police were called.

Mackey said detailed descriptions of suspects led them to the arrest Monday of Stephen H. DeSantis, 47, and Michael A. DeSantis, 22, both of 928 South St. S.E. Both face charges of kidnapping and felonious assault.

Armed with a search warrant, Mackey and Detective Michael Merrit entered the South Street home, confiscated a yellow chair, coveralls, a .32 caliber revolver with bullets, a hammer, torch and cleaning products, and took six evidence swabs wiped on the basement floor of the home.

The two men were being held in Trumbull County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bond set at arraignments Tuesday before Municipal Judge Thomas Gysegem. Preliminary hearings were set for 10:15 a.m. March 4.

The judge entered automatic ‘‘not guilty’’ pleas on behalf of both men, adding that a ‘‘parole hold’’ had been placed on the youngest DeSantis. Michael DeSantis was on parole after serving 18 months in prison and labeled a sexually oriented offender after a 2005 conviction on two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

The elder DeSantis has minor traffic and housing code violations against him, according to Warren Municipal Court officials.

Mackey and Currington said a juvenile also was arrested and was being held in the Juvenile Justice Center on accusations he took part in the torture.

The detectives said they still were trying to identify a fourth man through his nickname, believed to be an adult and also involved in the case.



cbobby@tribune-chronicle.com