Emlyn resident holds burglar at gunpoint

A local property owner held an Emlyn man at gunpoint until police arrived Sunday afternoon after catching him breaking into a building, according to the Kentucky State Police.
Kentucky State Police Trooper Mike Witt charged Hobert L. Elswick Jr., 34, of Emlyn, with third-degree burglary and third-degree criminal mischief in connection with a Sunday incident.
“There are very few burglaries where you actually catch them in the place, or doing it. They are usually gone when you get there,” Witt said.
“It was a good job on the victim’s part. He caught him. We just came and picked him up. If all the citizens would do that, we would have a lot of these burglaries solved a lot better.”
Witt said Walter Eddie Estes owns the building and that it used to be a radiator shop. The burglary happened about noon.
“The accused had kicked the door open, and was inside the office. Somebody saw him out there and called Walter. He went down there to check it out, and found the guy inside the office,” Witt said.
“Basically, when Walter found him in the office, he brought him out at gunpoint, and held him outside the building until the police got there.”
Witt said when he arrived a few minutes later, he found Elswick with his hands pressed against the wall, and Estes standing there with a shotgun waiting on police.
Witt said that the building had been burglarized at least one time prior to this with tools and other items stolen.
District Judge Cathy Prewitt entered a not guilty plea on Elswick’s behalf during his arraignment Monday afternoon, and ordered him held without bond until his July 3 preliminary hearing.
Prewitt noted that she denied bond because Elswick is currently on probation stemming from a Whitley Circuit Court case.
Witt said Elswick has already been convicted of unlawful use of a credit card, and that he admitted still having a four-month prison sentence for which he had received probation.
Williamsburg Police Officer Shawn Jackson assisted with the investigation.