Feb 1, 2019 3 min read

A second person has been charged in connection with the alleged assault of a man in a Masontown home basement for days.

Kelly Nichole French, 26, of 335 Peach St., Masontown, was arraigned on charges including attempted criminal homicide, criminal homicide, aggravated assault, kidnapping, hindering apprehension, unlawful restraint, simple assault, terroristic threats, recklessly endangering another person, criminal conspiracy and endangering the welfare of children on Wednesday before Magisterial District Judge Dan Shimshock.

The charges were filed following a Masontown police officer spotting Alan Lipscomb stumbling down the street in the area of Fairview Avenue and Ross Street on the evening of Jan. 21 with deep cuts to the bridge of his nose and head.

Lipscomb told the officer that he was tied up in a basement for days and said, “They are going to kill me.”

David M. Clark, 42, of Dilliner, was first charged in the incident on Jan. 22 as police reported in the affidavit of probable cause that Lipscomb first named Clark as the man who hit him.

Lipscomb reportedly met French on a dating site and met her at her Peach Street home. There, Lipscomb’s hands were bound with a game controller cord and he was beaten with a stolen gun and punched.

Upon Lipscomb’s information, German Township police assisted and responded with Masontown police to the Peach Street residence and was met at the door by French, who initially claimed she was alone in the house with her children. Two men, identified as Clark and French’s brother, Matthew Crowe, eventually came out after orders from police.

All three initially denied any knowledge of an assault. Crowe eventually told police Clark bound Lipscomb’s hands and assaulted him with a gun, according to court paperwork. He said he was scared of Clark because he was “speaking in tongues” and pointed the gun at him, French and the children after striking Lipscomb with it. French and Clark eventually directed police to the gun.

Clark claimed a man named “Brian Bear” forced him to assault Lipscomb while he watched. He said the man claimed Lipscomb had his cellphone and came to the house looking for it, and said he was coming back to “clean house.”

Crowe told police the man was there, but only briefly.

He said French did not want to be with Lipscomb and heard the two yelling at each other.

Lipscomb was flown by medical helicopter to a hospital for treatment of head injuries and listed in intensive care.

Police spoke with Lipscomb on Jan. 28, where he told them that French was not only the one who tied him up with the game-controller cord, but she also stabbed him with an orange and yellow dagger to his left arm above the elbow.

Lipscomb told police that French stabbed him after he tried to get up and told him, “the next time it will be in your throat.”

He added that Crowe was not involved in the assault.

On Jan. 15, 2017, French’s fiance, 39-year-old Shane M. Henrick, was shot to death at the Peach Street house. Christopher C. Shellhammer, 31, is charged with criminal homicide in the case. His private attorney, Michael Aubele, contends his client was set up for an ambush at the house.

Shimshock denied bail for French due to the nature of the charges and placed her in the Fayette County Prison.

She’s scheduled for a preliminary hearing before Shimshock at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 13.