Man jailed after girlfriend found locked in home

A Carson City man was jailed Wednesday, accused of keeping his girlfriend locked inside their home while he squandered her disability checks.

Steven Rutherford, 57, was booked into the Carson City Jail on suspicion of felony false imprisonment and fraudulent use of a credit card.

According to the arrest report, the daughter of Rutherford's girlfriend called police from Virginia saying she attempted to speak with her mother by phone and Rutherford allegedly would not allow it.

When officers arrived at Rutherford's home in the 400 block of East Long Street they found the front door dead-bolted shut from the outside.

Upon knocking on the door a woman came to the window and said she was locked in and the windows were nailed shut.

Deputies cut the bolt off the door and entered the home.

The woman, 56, said that for the past three weeks whenever Rutherford would leave, he would lock her inside.

According to the report, she said he would usually be gone for hours gambling and drinking, the report states. She also told officers Rutherford had taken her disability credit card and spent her $1,000 monthly stipend.

The woman declined to leave the apartment, saying she would be fine now that the lock was cut off the door, according to the report.

Officers then began to look for Rutherford and later returned to his home when they got word he was there. Rutherford said he locked the door for his girlfriend's safety, according to the report. Police found $490 in his pocket along with the woman's disability debit card.

The woman, who earlier in the day seemed in good health, appeared "confused and slower than before," the report states.

"She informed me that after we left she had fallen and hit her head on the counter. There was a small spot of blood on the counter," the report states.

She was taken to the hospital.

Rutherford is being held on $7,500 bail.