Both Sarnia residents charged last month with kidnapping after police said two people were rescued from a car – one was allegedly stripped down and trapped in the trunk – have been released on lease.
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Jody Hodgert, 44, and Gordon Jelavic, 47, were both arrested Sept. 17 following an incident earlier that Sunday morning and charged with kidnapping, forcible confinement, assault with a weapon and possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose. Hodgert was released on lease on Oct. 5 while Jelavic was kept in custody as he put together a bail plan.
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That plan, featuring a $10,000 pledge, was approved Oct. 20, according to court documents obtained last week, but he wasn’t to be released until a GPS tracking device was installed. After it’s affixed he’ll be living under house arrest with a family member in Sarnia and is banned from contacting two complainants, Shannon Slack and Raymond Bernard, and Hodgert.
Hodgert’s $500 plan had similar rules put in place but she has a nightly curfew instead of house arrest.
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Sarnia police said at the time they received a call just after 8 am from a concerned citizen reporting a person being assaulted by two suspects with a bat in the area of Victoria and Davis streets. Police also learned the person had their clothing removed and was forced into a vehicle, they said.
Officers went to the area, pulled the vehicle over and allegedly found one person in the backseat and a second person in the trunk, police said. They both received medical treatment, but were not significantly injured. The suspects and the people rescued were known to each other, police added.
Hodgert was also charged that morning with suspended driving and, in a separate alleged incident later that day at the Sarnia Jail, possessing fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking. Sarnia police said corrections officers at the jail allegedly discovered seven grams of the suspected drug in her bra.
Hodgert’s charges will be back in court Wednesday while Jelavic’s will return on Nov. 20. Jelavic also has two outstanding charges laid in October 2021 including fentanyl possession and impaired driving by alcohol or a drug or both.
None of the allegations or charges against either accused have been tested in court.
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