A Mercer County man was arrested on the afternoon of Friday, February 19, after an alleged altercation at a Bluefield motel. Joe Jeremiah Stephenson, 36, of Princeton, has been charged with one-count of brandishing a weapon.
On the date in question, officers were dispatched to the Quality Inn, located at 3350 Big Laurel Highway in Bluefield in response to reports of an individual being threatened with a machete. Once on the scene, officers made contact with a male subject, later identified as Joe Jeremiah Stephenson.
According to the criminal complaint, Stephenson advised officers that another man at the motel had “disrespected his religion and his country”.
Stephenson then allegedly advised officers that he then “produced a knife and slashed at the doorway of the hotel room”.
Stephenson was arrested without further incident, then transported to the Bluefield Police Department for processing.
Joe Jeremiah Stephenson is currently being held at Southern Regional Jail on a $1,000 cash-bond or surety.
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