String of alleged Main Street assaults last Saturday and alleged kidnapping earlier in the month led to charges

By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news 

An Ashland resident arrested for kidnapping another man and assaulting multiple strangers and police officers in downtown Ashland April 12 was indicted on multiple charges by a grand jury Thursday. 

The Jackson County Grand Jury indicted James David Lee Hergett, 34, on charges of first-degree kidnapping, second-degree kidnapping, coercion with a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon, menacing domestic violence, second-degree attempted assault, harassment, third-degree sex abuse and first-degree sex abuse, according to a release from the Ashland Police Department. 

The indictments are related to two incidents. The second was an initial alleged act of vandalism that became what police reports detail as a string of assaults on bystanders and three officers on April 12 in downtown Ashland. The first involves a man allegedly held captive by Hergett for 48 hours beginning on April 8. 

The incident concerning the kidnapping was not acted on immediately due to concerns related to numerous known firearms in Hergett’s residence, according to the police department release. 

“Officers were unable to act on this complaint immediately due to concerns that forcing contact with the suspect could unnecessarily endanger the neighboring community given the known presence of multiple firearms,” the release said. 

Officers have since obtained a search warrant for Hergett’s address on Iowa Street and seized multiple firearms as evidence after his arrest, according to the release. 

Details of the April 12 series of incidents are laid out in a police report: Just before 11 a.m. Saturday April 12, Officer Bill Fischer responded to a call of a male breaking a clay pot in the area of S. Pioneer Street and E. Main Street. The caller informed police he was following the suspect — later identified as Hergett — to continue reporting his behavior until Hergett “got physically aggressive with him,” and stole his glasses, according to the affidavit. 

Additional calls came in reporting Hergett assaulted an unknown transient male in front of around 20 witnesses waiting for the Music Co-op to open (it was National Record Store Day). At the same location Hergett was also reported to have been “aggressively chest bumping” an unknown elderly female. 

One witness reported the transient male approached Hergett in an attempt to help recover the stolen glasses when he was thrown to the ground and repeatedly punched in the face. The witness reported a “cracking sound” from the force of the punches. As bystanders yelled at Hergett to stop and informed him the police were coming, he fled. 

Officers arrived at the Music Coop and found the transient male holding a bag of ice to his injury but were unable to speak to witnesses at that time as calls continued with updates of Hergett’s movements, the affidavit said. 

By 11:13 a.m. Hergett was seen walking in the 400 block of Allison Street. He refused a lawful order to stop, according to the police report, and Sgt. Matt Carpenter and Officer Alex Vela assisted Fisher as Hergett eluded arrest, the police affidavit said. An additional call reported Hergett attempted to break into a nearby home and assaulted the occupant and his dog with “a fresh scrape on the bottom of his dog’s jaw and another abrasion above his dog’s left eye.”`

By 11:20 a.m., Fisher reported he saw Carpenter following Hergett on foot and informing the fleeing suspect he was under arrest. Hergett then turned and hit Carpenter in the face. Vela reached Hergett, attempted to arrest him, and was also struck in the face, the affidavit said. Fisher was running toward them when Carpenter deployed his taser and completed the arrest. Hergett was then medically examined to remove the taser probe and at that time kicked Fisher in the chest, the affidavit said. 

Hergett also kidnapped and held his former romantic partner hostage for 48 hours beginning April 8, according to an additional affidavit. The victim told police he had previously been in a relationship with Hergett, who had at that time “pointed a pistol and an AK-47” at him, according to the affidavit. 

While held captive, the victim reported Hergett constricted both his femoral and carotid artery and informed him if he did anything he “would baptize him in fire.” Hergett then put his fingers in his victim’s mouth while saying “comply, comply.” He also sexually assaulted the victim, according to the affidavit.

Hergett is being held without bail on most of the charges, with the exception of a $250,000 bail on the fourth-degree assault charge and a $500,000 bail for the first-degree kidnapping charge, according to the jail roster. 

Hergett was previously arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm in Jackson County in 2015, and unsafe operation of a boat in Crook County in 2007, according to court documents. 

Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at morganr@ashland.news.