The Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged Joshua Steven Bell, 40, of St. Louis for allegedly attacking a woman, who he was in a relationship with, at an Arnold-area home.
He struck the woman from behind outside the home, hit her with a piece of stairway railing inside the home and tried to hit her with a vehicle when she escaped the home, according to court documents.
Bell has been charged with first-degree burglary, a class B felony; two counts of first-degree domestic assault, both class B felonies; and two counts of armed criminal action, both unclassified felonies, court records show.
Bell has been found guilty of at least two previous felonies, and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office asked the class B felonies to be considered class A felonies, which each carry a penalty of 10 to 30 years or life in prison. The unclassified felonies are each punishable by three to 15 years in prison, court documents said.
Bell was arrested Nov. 13, and as of Nov. 20, he was being held without bond at the Jefferson County Jail in Hillsboro, court records show.
On May 31, Bell allegedly hit the woman in the back of her head as she was entering a home in the 5100 block of Jimmy Drive west of Arnold. He followed the woman into the home, where he then hit the woman with a banister spindle from the stairway railing, according to the case’s probable-cause statement.
The woman was able to get out of the home, but Bell allegedly tried to hit her with a vehicle several times before leaving the area, the report said.
A Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputy wrote that he found the woman unconscious inside the home when he arrived at the scene.
Bell has been convicted of at least two previous felonies. He was found guilty of possession of a controlled substance in December 2014 in St. Louis County, and he was found guilty of possession of a controlled substance in August 2016 in St. Louis, court records said.