Kidnapping suspect indicted by grand jury

PORT CLINTON – An Ottawa County grand jury has indicted Eric Thomas, 24, of Rochester, N.Y., on charges of kidnapping, abduction, robbery and felonious assault.

Thomas is accused of holding a Port Clinton woman against her will and forcing her to take police on a high-speed chase on Ohio 2. The woman was able to escape the vehicle and Thomas began to drive and was later arrested after crashing her van in Oregon, according to the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office.

Thomas is being held at the Ottawa County Detention Facility and is scheduled to appear at 4 p.m. March 9 inside the Ottawa County Municipal Court . His bond has been set at $154,034.

The grand jury also indicted:

• Steven A. Gilleland, 45, and Lisa Gilleland, 47, both of Port Clinton, on one count theft by deception, after allegedly entering a property contracted under false pretense and taking several thousand dollars from a person in the residence.

• Justin Hallett, 29, who is being held in the Ottawa County Detention Facility, on one count of escape. He is charged with failure to report to detention facility from a specified work release program.

• Tracy Hoffer, 42, Bowling Green, on six counts of gross sexual imposition. She is charged with having sex with a substantially impaired person who was unable to consent to the act. Ottawa County Sheriff reports state the alleged acts took place from 2009 to 2014.

• Ashley Lukac, 24, Fremont, on three counts of theft of drugs. She is charged with stealing prescription medication from a pharmacy where she was employed in 2014.

• Zachary Sutherland, 20, Peachtree, Georgia, and Bryce Miller, 19, Port Clinton, on two counts each of theft and receiving stolen property and one count each of breaking and entering. Port Clinton police report the men stole items from two Port Clinton homes in 2014.

cshoup@gannett.com

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