Bond set for Butler County RV business owner facing assault charges

Couch, 51, of Tamarron Drive in West Chester Twp., was charged early Saturday morning with felonious assault, a second-degree felony, and domestic violence, a first-degree misdemeanor. His case will be heard in Area III court, though video arraignments are heard in Area II court.

Bond was set at $16,000 this morning for Couch during a video arraignment.

“Mr. Couch has no criminal record, he is a business owner here in Butler County, he’s got extensive ties here in the community,” said Erik Niehaus, Couch’s attorney. “He understands a protection order is likely to be issued in this case.”

Niehaus said in court he has talked with the victim by cell.

“She told me she was not in fear of him,” he said.

She is not opposed to him being released on bond, but she does want a protection order, Niehaus said.

INITIAL POST:

A Butler County businessman charged with felony assault is scheduled to be arraigned this morning following his arrest early Saturday morning.

Jeffery Wayne Couch, the owner of Jeff Couch’s RV Nation in Trenton, is charged with felonious assault and misdemeanor domestic violence for an incident in his West Chester Twp. home involving his wife, according to police.

FIRST REPORT: Butler County RV business owner faces assault, domestic violence charges

Couch was booked into the Butler County Jail and held without bond over the weekend. His case will be heard in Butler County Area III Court, but video arraignment is scheduled for today in Area II Court.

Couch, 51, of 7311 Tamarron Place in West Chester Twp., was charged at 1:34 a.m. Saturday after police said he assaulted his wife on the way home from an event.

West Chester police were called Friday at around 11:30 p.m. to Couch’s home in the Wetherington subdivision by a neighbor “who had heard a woman screaming outside,” said township spokesperson Barb Wilson.

Police responded to Couch’s home and found “odd-and-end debris strewn across the driveway” when they arrived, she said. Police spoke with Couch, who was inside his home at the time, and “noted things were disheveled,” Wilson said.

She said West Chester police also received a call from West Chester Hospital to report they admitted Couch’s wife, Shelley, “with serious injuries.”

Police interviewed her, and she said the fight in the car “escalated” when they arrived home, Wilson said.

“She was about to get away and ran to another neighbor’s house, and that neighbor took her to the hospital,” Wilson said.

RV Nation claims on its website to be “one of the camper industry’s best providers” of RV sales, service and parts, and Couch’s family has been in the RV business for more than 40 years.