MEMPHIS, Tenn. — An Orange Mound man is in jail, charged with holding a woman prisoner in his home for two days.
Tony Washington is charged with false imprisonment, being a convicted felon in possession of a gun, possession of cocaine, and robbery in what police are calling a drug deal gone wrong.
Police said the victim, Iris Allman, was buying cocaine from Washington when he took her captive.
Although Washington is behind bars, his neighbors said they still don’t feel safe.
Kevin Ellis was shocked to hear a woman was held captive in a house in the 2400 block of Saratoga, right across the street from him.
What he wasn’t surprised about is why police say the woman was there in the first place.
Ellis said the house is a hot spot for squatters and drug addicts.
Police say Allman went there to buy cocaine on Tuesday from Tony Washington and gave him her bank card and PIN to pay for it.
They say she stayed there for an overnight drug binge, and Washington drained her account of almost $800.
Police say Washington refused to let her leave the house and beat her when she deactivated her bankcard.
Thursday, they say he drove her to her bank in the 2800 block of Lamar and told her to take out whatever money she had left.
Allman was able to tell people at the bank she was being held against her will, and police arrested Washington.
“If he would never have done a dumb move like that, man she probably wouldn’t even be here to tell the story or have survived,” one bank customer said.
While Ellis is glad Washington is off the streets, he wants the city to clean up his neighborhood and do something about the abandoned houses so something like this never happens again.
“They need to knock them down, condemn. That’s what they need. It would cut a lot of that riff-raff out,” Ellis said.
Washington is being held on the $60,000 bond.