Man accused of assaulting woman with the butt of gun
A Karns City man was arrested Friday after police said that he assaulted a woman with the butt of a gun and attempted to pull out her tongue in a wooded area of his parents’ property in Fairview Township.
Joseph Parker, 33, was charged Monday with felonies strangulation and prohibited possession of a firearm and misdemeanors simple assault, terroristic threats and animal cruelty. He was arrested and placed in Butler County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail.
The woman told police that she spent Friday with Parker in a camper on the property. According to documents, Parker dragged the woman inside the camper around 9 p.m. while she was having a cigarette. Police said Parker began hitting the woman, then struck her with the butt of a rifle, causing injury to the area below her right eye.
Parker also grabbed the woman’s tongue and “attempted to pull it out,” documents showed. Police said he then pointed a pistol at the woman and said he would kill her if she reported the incident and that “no one would be able to find her.”
Police said Parker also threatened to shoot the woman’s dog and twisted its ear.
Parker was found in possession of 119 rounds of .223 bullets and 13 rounds of 9 mm bullets, according to a news release.
A search of his home found multiple firearms, ammunition, a grenade, Kevlar vests and THC cartridges, police said.