Customs agent among 5 charged in kidnapping, beating, shooting of two men

Darrin Lagrant Franklin Darrin Lagrant Franklin Photo: Houston PD Photo: Houston PD Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Customs agent among 5 charged in kidnapping, beating, shooting of two men 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent, the nephew of boxer George Foreman and three other men are accused in the Christmas Eve robbery, beating and kidnapping of two men later shot when they escaped, according to Harris County prosecutors.

All five - Jason Paul Washington, the agent, who resigned on Wednesday; Nathan Ray Foreman; Ricky Earl Bernard; Darren Lagrant Franklin; and Jason Cunningham - have been charged with aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping. Cunningham has also been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He is in the Harris County Jail with no bail. The others have posted bail.

Bound and gagged

The victims told investigators they were to meet a man named Jerry at their workplace, a body shop in the 2500 block of Central Parkway in northwest Houston, about an auto job, but instead were accosted by five men, Houston police said.

The attackers grabbed the men, beat them, bound their hands with zip ties and gagged them before placing them in a back room, according to an arrest warrant filed Monday.

Investigators said the attackers took $400 in cash from the victims and a suitcase belonging to one of the employees.

The violence escalated from there, according to the arrest warrant.

The attackers burned the employees with a clothing iron, and one of the assailants poured gasoline on the victims and held a lighter near them, threatening to set them on fire, according to the court document. Another attacker threatened the victims with a firearm, police said.

HPD detectives said Foreman, 47, instructed two of his accomplices to place the employees in a van at gunpoint, and the suspects drove off with the men.

The employees later jumped out of the van "because they feared they were going to be killed," the arrest warrant states. As they leaped from the van, attackers shot them.

Motive not explained

One was hit in the buttocks and back, while the other suffered wounds throughout his torso, said DA's Office spokeswoman Sara Marie Kinney.

Prosecutors would not elaborate on a motive for the incident.

An attorney for Washington, Paul Doyle, called the two employees "con men." He did not elaborate on that statement.

Washington is seen on surveillance video, which shows one of the attackers in a law-enforcement uniform, prosecutors said.

Doyle also said his client, who has resigned after eight years as an agent, "was at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Doyle said Washington left "when he realized what was happening. The mistake he made is he should have called the police and he didn't."

Washington would help investigators identify the others, prosecutors said.

Foreman, who Doyle and prosecutors identified as the nephew of the boxing champ, was arrested in January. Franklin, 47, was arrested on March 21; Cunningham, 30, on Friday; Bernard, 33, on Monday and Washington, 30, on Tuesday.

Bernard was freed after posting $120,000 bail. The others, except Cunningham, were freed on $60,000 bail each.