Woman gets up to 10 years in kidnap case

A former Barnesville woman accused of helping kidnap, beat and shoot at a Union Township man in 2016 will spend up to 10 years in state prison.

Jordan M. Stravinsky, 23, struck a plea deal in exchange for testifying against her accomplice, Jonathan T. Ford, should his case go to trial. Ford could instead plead guilty.

Schuylkill County Judge James P. Goodman accepted Stravinsky’s plea to charges of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and reckless burning or exploding places or property having value that exceeds $5,000 or an automobile.

Charges of conspiracy to commit murder of the first degree, conspiracy to commit kidnap to inflict injury/terror, and conspiracy to commit criminal mischief with intent to damage property were dropped as part of the plea negotiations.

Other charges of conspiracy to commit terroristic threats, two counts of conspiracy to commit simple assault, conspiracy to commit recklessly endangering another person, conspiracy to commit robbery with threat of immediate serious injury, and conspiracy to commit reckless or negligent propulsion of missiles onto roadways were dismissed.

Goodman sentenced Stravinsky to one-and-a-half to five years on the criminal mischief charge, and ordered her to pay $5,001 in restitution to Jean Rhoads, to be paid jointly with Ford.

He also sentenced Stravinsky to the same sentence, to be served consecutively, on the arson charge.

The tampering charge resulted in a sentence of 12 months on probation, to be served concurrently with the mischief sentence.

Goodman gave Stravinsky credit for the 285 days she served from Sept. 30, 2016, to May 23, 2017, and from Feb. 8 to March 28 of this year.

State police at Frackville say Ford, 32, and Stravinsky, 22, kidnapped Shaun D. Briggs, 34, from his Union Township home on Sept. 29, 2016.

Briggs was forced into a car at gunpoint, then beaten by Ford as Ford drove the car away, with Stravinsky in the back seat.

Stravinsky and Ford forced Briggs to strip, then ordered him into a pond.

Ford fired a gun at Briggs as he cowered in the water, according to court documents.

Ford and Stravinsky then drove to a friend’s house, where they burned Briggs’ bloody clothes before going to a strip club, according to testimony.

Briggs testified at a Dec. 1, 2016, preliminary hearing that he needed 18 stitches for numerous cuts on his face and head, had a fractured skull, a tooth knocked out, a fractured nose, a broken finger and a broken bone in his wrist.