From staff reports
A transient Franklin man already accused of stealing a woman’s gun and forcing her to give him a ride in her vehicle at gunpoint and then assaulting her a few days later is now facing additional charges of witness intimidation.
Oil City police said in a criminal complaint that Wade Shaffer, 38, who is currently incarcerated in the Venango County jail, reached out to several people and asked them to contact the woman he’s accused of assaulting to ask her to bail him out and drop the charges against him.
He also offered several people thousands of dollars if they would get him out of jail, the complaint said.
Oil City police said that on March 29, Shaffer brandished a handgun the woman recognized as her gun at her vehicle, but the gun didn’t have ammunition in it and dry fired.
Shaffer pulled the trigger again while the gun was pointed at the vehicle, and the woman then, out of fear, agreed to give Shaffer a ride, police said.
Shaffer was arraigned Thursday in the intimidation case on felony counts of stalking and intimidating witness/victim false/misleading testimony and a misdemeanor count of harassment.
A preliminary hearing will be held in Venango County Central Court.
He was held for court last month in Central Court on all the charges against him in the earlier two cases. Those cases are now proceeding through the court system.
