FW: Tarrant County grand jury didn't indict man facing new charges

12:00 AM CST on Saturday, April 1, 2006

By DEBRA DENNIS / The Dallas Morning News

A Fort Worth man charged with torturing his ex-girlfriend was accused of a similar crime a year ago in Forest Hill, according to police and court records.

Robert Drew Stephenson, 43, is in jail facing charges that he brutally beat a Fort Worth woman while holding her hostage at his home for 19 days.

Police said Mr. Stephenson kidnapped the woman March 5.

Mr. Stephenson, held in lieu of $250,000 bail, couldn't be reached for comment.

Mr. Stephenson was arrested last April on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after a Forest Hill woman gave police a similar account.

The woman said Mr. Stephenson beat her in March 2005 and forced her to have sex with him.

Mr. Stephenson also used a makeshift electrical device to shock her, she said.

"A charge was prudent," said Forest Hill police Lt. Chris Hebert.

A Tarrant County grand jury declined to indict Mr. Stephenson in the case last July, officials said.

The Forest Hill woman dated Mr. Stephenson, as did the woman in the most recent case, police said.

Carla McCollum, a relative of the woman who said she was held captive in 2005, said she allowed Mr. Stephenson to move in with them because his Miller Avenue home was uninhabitable. "I'm the biggest softie," Ms. McCollum said.

Mr. Stephenson intimidated the entire household, but he was most vicious to the relative, whom he accused of infidelity, Ms. McCollum said.

"He is sick," she said. "He scared me to death. When he gets into one of these rages, he's a totally different person."

Ms. McCollum said she hopes Mr. Stephenson will be indicted and convicted in the latest case.

"I'm just so glad that somebody got ahold of this," Ms. McCollum said. "I don't see how he can get out of this one."

In the latest case, Fort Worth police on Wednesday charged Mr. Stephenson with aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping and retaliation after the former girlfriend accused him of repeatedly beating her during the 19-day kidnapping.

The woman also told police that Mr. Stephenson burned her with a blowtorch, poured Drano on the fresh burns and tied her with duct tape.

If convicted, Mr. Stephenson could get 99 years in prison.

Jim Douglas of WFAA-TV contributed to this report.

E-mail debdennis@dallasnews.com