photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured in May of 2023. The center houses the Douglas County District Court and other county services.

A Lawrence man’s bond was set at $1 million after prosecutors argued that he was a threat to the public and to his alleged 65-year-old victim.

Tahreon Lamont Allen, 20, was charged with one count of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery with a handgun, aggravated burglary and possession of a firearm by a felon, all felonies, according to charging documents. The charges are in connection with an incident on May 30, as the Journal-World reported.

Court documents say that Allen was convicted of two felony counts of aggravated burglary and one felony count of aggravated battery in November 2020, when he was a juvenile.

At his sentencing hearing on those charges in January 2021 a Douglas County Youth Services officer testified that he had been dealing with Allen since 2015 and that Allen was “challenging.” The court officer said then that Allen should not be granted probation and should serve his time in state custody. The officer said that Allen had little regard for the law and that if he were allowed back on the streets the officer feared that Allen “would end up dead;” he said that while awaiting sentencing Allen had asked if he could purchase an AR-15 rifle.

Allen was sentenced to 36 months in state custody with the time starting in April 2020, when he was first arrested on the charges, but Allen was released from supervision on those charges in September 2022. It was not immediately clear in court records why his sentence was cut short.

Assistant District Attorney Brian Deiter argued on Thursday for the high bond, citing Allen’s previous convictions. Deiter also said that the alleged victim of the kidnapping has been repeatedly victimized by Allen, and the state believes Allen did not act alone. Deiter added that when Allen was arrested at his workplace, Hallmark, 101 McDonald Drive, on Tuesday he was in possession of the victim’s car and a firearm and he fled from police when they arrived.

Deiter said that the alleged kidnapping occurred immediately prior to Allen appearing in court on Tuesday for felony charges for burglary and theft involving the same victim in connection with an incident on Oct. 21, 2022.

“He is a substantial risk to public safety, especially to the victim in this case,” Deiter said.

Allen said in response that he deserved a lower bond since he has never failed to appear in court before and that when police tried to arrest him on Tuesday they did not properly identify themselves.

“There was a lot going on,” Allen told the court.

Judge Sally Pokorny had initially set Allen’s bond at $100,000 cash or surety but after hearing Deiter’s argument she agreed to the higher bond. She said it did appear that there was a significant risk to the alleged victim and she set the bond at $1 million.

Pokorny appointed Michael Clarke to represent Allen and scheduled a status conference for June 7.

The Lawrence Police Department said on Wednesday that Allen’s alleged victim was a 65-year-old man who had reported being kidnapped after he was found in a nearby city. Police were still working to locate additional suspects and asked anyone in the public with information about the incident to call the Investigations Unit at 785-830-7430.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has declined to release Allen’s booking photo.