Pursell
LIMA — A Columbus Grove man pleaded not guilty Friday during Allen County Common Pleas Court arraignments after being indicted on aggravated robbery, two counts of felonious assault and arson.
Court documents said in the early morning of July 22 Allen County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to Flying J’s, located at 420 E. Main St., Beaverdam, because a man reported Paul Pursell, 57, was allegedly siphoning gas from his truck. When Pursell was confronted by the man, he got in his car and tried to leave, but the man took Pursell’s keys out of the ignition. While the man was still on the phone with dispatch, Pursell struck the man in the head and elbow with a crowbar then lit a cigarette and threw it down in the gasoline leaking out from under the truck.
Pursell fled the scene and was arrested lying under a semi-truck on the Interstate 75 southbound on-ramp.
The man went to Lima Memorial Hospital and received five stitches in his elbow.
Pursell’s bond is set at $150,000. A pretrial has been scheduled for Sept. 27.
Reach Charlotte Caldwell at 567-242-0451.
