State prosecutors have elevated charges against a Baton Rouge man for a May incident in which investigators say he kidnapped a woman from an area rehab facility, beat her and held her against her will for multiple days.
Court records show Joshua James Cain, 38, of Baton Rouge, was arrested May 13 on counts of domestic battery and simple kidnapping.
But prosecutors later decided more severe charges were appropriate. On Wednesday, the East Baton Rouge District Attorney's Office charged Cain with second-degree kidnapping to go along with the battery count, and also added felony violation of a protective order to the list.
On May 9, Baton Rouge Police Department officers and East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office patrol deputies responded to a call from Baton Rouge Comprehensive Treatment Center, an outpatient opioid addiction treatment center on Reiger Road.
Employees of the facility told authorities that not long after a woman entered the facility for treatment, Cain came inside and struck her, according to arrest documents.
When she tried to get away from him, Cain struck her again, grabbed her and pulled her outside where he then beat her against a chain-link fence, investigators said.
According to video surveillance and employees' statements to police, Cain forced the woman into the back seat of a vehicle with him and a third person drove the car away.
"(Officers) attempted to locate (Cain) and the victim at numerous addresses and phone numbers, however to no avail," an officer wrote in an Sheriff's Office affidavit for the man's arrest.
Authorities found and arrested Cain on May 13 and were able to speak with the woman.
"She claimed (Cain) uses her addiction to narcotics as a form of control," authorities wrote, adding the woman said Cain denies her access to her phone and does not allow her to have friends.
According to a separate affidavit for Cain's arrest penned by a police detective, the man held the woman, who he shares a child with, at his mother's house for three days, where authorities say he kicked the woman and beat her multiple times with a metal flashlight and his fist.
"While punching the victim she was holding their infant child," the detective wrote. "(Cain) apparently hit the child in the face, leaving a cut under the child's eye."
Authorities wrote that the woman said she was not allowed to leave a bedroom while being held at the residence and she did not attempt to escape for fear of being harmed.
The woman showed officers she had a valid protective order against Cain, barring him from contact with her.
In the recent filing to bring a second-degree kidnapping charge against Cain — whose rap sheet shows at least 10 previous criminal arrests — prosecutors cite a similar incident from months earlier.
As recently as Jan. 25, Cain was named in an incident report in which police say Cain held a woman and child against their will at a residence for 72 hours, kicked the woman and beat her with his fist and a metal flashlight.
In the report, investigators describe a voicemail in which Cain can be heard threatening a woman.
"I'm gonna get real f- violent," he reportedly said.
It is unknown if this is the same woman as the one involved in the May incident for which Cain was later arrested.
Cain's attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
For his May arrest, bail was set at $39,500. Two days later, the prosecutors filed documents into court detailing Cain's criminal history, including the similar January incident accusing him of domestic battery, for the court to consider before allowing him to post bail.
Second-degree kidnapping carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in Louisiana.