An Eldersburg family testified Tuesday in Carroll County Circuit Court about two masked and armed men who broke into their house, tied them up and kidnapped one of them. The crime ultimately led to one suspect?s death and the wounding of a state trooper.
“We were watching ?Survivor? like we did every Thursday night,” said Jamisson South, 23, referring to the evening of Dec. 7. She, her fiancé, Christopher Joel Sokol, and her younger brother, Garrett South, were in her basement bedroom watching TV just after 8 p.m., she said.
Two men, one wielding a gun, burst in and used handcuffs, a phone cord, computer wires and duct tape to tie up the family, then stole Jamisson South?s $3,100 engagement ring, Garrett South?s PlayStation, and $500 and a necklace from Sokol, the three testified.
“I thought we were dead,” Garrett South said.
According to the family, the men asked, “Where is he? This isn?t random. We?ve been following him.”
Another brother, Levi South, then came home from work. The defendant, Ronald Jerome Presco, 37, of Baltimore, forced Levi South into the front passenger seat of South?s Jeep, and drove to South?s place of work in Randallstown, Village Services, a store where patrons play lottery and poker machines and process money orders, according to court testimony and charging documents.
Presco?s cousin, Steven Tyrone Jones, 39, of Woodlawn, remained behind at the house with the family to make sure Levi South cooperated, the family testified.
Jones escaped as patriarch Russell South came home. The father called police, who arrested Presco after a foot chase.
A week later, Maryland State Trooper 1st Class Eric Workman was critically injured when Jones fired at him during an attempted arrest in Woodlawn. Police returned fire and killed Jones.
Presco could face more than 100 years in prison for 31 counts of kidnapping, armed robbery, assault, false imprisonment and other charges in connection with the incident.
The trial continues today.
