Man accused of intimidating victim of attempted strangulation
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ST. ANTHONY — A 38-year-old man was charged with a felony for allegedly intimidating a witness in a case involving a man accused of trying to strangle the witness.
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by the St. Anthony Police Department, Tyron Brown went to the victim’s workplace in St. Anthony after being released from the Fremont County Jail. The victim is part of a case involving a man named Anthony Cornford, 39, who was charged with two felonies including domestic battery and attempted strangulation.
On May 18, the victim told police Brown had come to see her and said Cornford asked him to go see her to “make this go away.” She said he told her Cornford didn’t want to go to prison and wanted her to drop the charges or not testify.
An arrest warrant was issued for Brown for intimidating a witness.
Brown was given a $25,000 bond and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on June 8 at 4 p.m. in Fremont County Magistrate Court.
In the other attempted strangulation and domestic battery case, an officer from the St. Anthony Police Department was dispatched on January 30 at 1:40 a.m. to the Bridge Street area for a report of the victim saying Cornford was trying to kill her.
According to court documents, the victim tried to get into the patrol vehicle when the officer responded to the area. She kept saying, “Let me in. I want to get out of here” and “I just want to get away from him.”
The officer could see the victim was bleeding from her mouth and ear.
She told the officer that Cornford had “struck her in the face and mouth several times.”
The officer tried to contact Cornford in the room he was in but he did not come to the door. A deputy arrived on scene to assist and tried to contact him by phone.
According to documents, Cornford told the deputy that he drove to Rexburg and wasn’t there. His red SUV was seen parked on the street.
“(I) observed undisturbed snow on the steps and at the base of the steps, indicating no one had come out that way. It is believed that Anthony was hiding in the room and refused to come out,” the report said.
In a signed statement, the victim wrote, “I was asleep and Anthony Cornford attacked me, hit me … threatened to kill me and my kids. I finally got away, called the cops. Hit and choked me for 30 min before I could call the cops.”
According to court documents, law enforcement believed that Cornford was deceptive in his location during and after the incident.
Cornford is awaiting a trial that is set for September 1 at 9 a.m. at the Fremont County Courthouse.
