Justin Bridwell

Baker County Sheriff’s officers arrested a Huntington man who’s being held at the jail on multiple charges accusing him of using force to steal a handgun.

The District Attorney’s Office has charged Justin Dean Bridwell, 31, with one count of first-degree theft and one county of unlawful use of a weapon, both Class C felonies; two counts of second-degree robbery, a Class B felony; and one count of menacing, a Class A misdemeanor, court documents state.

Bridwell is accused of taking a handgun belonging to Christina Hoberg on Sunday, June 21, at 405 E. Jefferson St. in Huntington. The court records also allege that Bridwell, who was aided by another person, threatened Roman Rhodes with “the immediate use of physical force,” to compel Rhodes to deliver the gun to him.

The other robbery charge and the unlawful use of a weapon charge allege that in addition to threat of physical force, Bridwell also “represented by word or conduct” that he was armed with a dangerous or deadly weapon that he intended to use to force Rhodes to give him the handgun. The menacing charge claims that Bridwell placed Rhodes “in fear of imminent serious physical injury by pointing a gun at him.”

Upon conviction, second-degree robbery carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 70 months.