Bounty Hunters from Tenn. Charged with Home Invasion, Kidnapping, False Imprisonment

Two bail bondsmen from Tennessee, who were looking for a Gwinnett man wanted for failure to appear in traffic court, ended up in the county jail on home invasion, kidnapping and false imprisonment charges, police said.

Gwinnett Police said Khalil Abdullah of Hixson, Tenn., and Kevin Roberson of Chattanooga, are being held without bond after they allegedly kicked their way into a Castlebrooke Way residence Sunday morning, threatened the man’s family with firearms, and handcuffed and apprehended his wife.

This is an area of unincorporated Gwinnett County just east of Lawrenceville, west of Dacula and north of Grayson. The incident occurred around 10:40 a.m. Sunday.

The men, identifying themselves as bail bond enforcement agents, were seeking the man, who was wanted in Ashland City, Tenn., for failing to appear on a traffic charge.

“After entering, they accosted the residents, including children, by pointing guns at them and threatening them,” Gwinnett Police said in a news release. “During agent’s entry, the male jumped out of the house from a window and fled. The agents searched the house. They then handcuffed and took a female, the wife of the man, into their custody and drove her away from the scene in a black pick-up.”

WSB-TV reported there were seven children in the home when the men entered. One of the children shot video of the event on a cell phone. The video was distributed to news outlets Sunday.

In the video, one of the agentsis heard telling the children to go into a room and close the door “before you get shot.”

(See the WSB report and the video below)

The men told police they were charging the woman with harboring a fugitive and obstructing their efforts to catch the husband. When officers went to speak with the family, the bounty hunters left with the woman.

Police located the truck a short time later parked outside the subdivision and released the woman. Their investigation led to the arrests of the men. Other charges are possible, pending further investigation of the cell phone video.

The husband has not been located, police said in the news release.

(Photos: Khalil Abdullah and Kevin Roberson. Credit: Gwinnett County jail mug shots)