3 Charged in Linwood Beating That Broke Man’s Ribs

Three men beat a man, threatened to kill him and chased him until he hid in a neighbor’s garage, according to charges. The attack happened Nov. 24, 2025, at a home in Linwood Township and left the man with fractured ribs.

Johnathan Edward Kobow, 46, Brad James Laffin, 52, and BJ Michael Garrity, 45, are each charged in separate complaints with aiding and abetting second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon causing substantial bodily harm and aiding and abetting third-degree assault. All three men live in Linwood Township.

According to the complaints, deputies responded after a resident reported that a bloodied man had entered his garage and was watching the door. Deputies found the man with bruises and blood on his head and face.

The man told investigators the three defendants attacked him at a nearby home after a woman was arrested for violating a no-contact order. He said they blamed him for the arrest and for having to bail her out.

The men pulled him from a vehicle, punched and kicked him and threatened to kill him, he told deputies. Laffin held a metal pipe while Garrity urged him to strike the man with it.

The victim said he protected his face and felt something hard strike his ribs, but was unsure whether it was the pipe. He said the group took his phone as he tried to call 911.

Laffin and Garrity threatened to kill him and bury him on the property, according to his account. He said Laffin smothered his face until he nearly lost consciousness.

The man eventually escaped and said the defendants chased him down the street in a white van. He ran into the neighbor’s garage to hide.

Security video showed someone driving a white van past the home at 11:20 a.m. The victim ran up the driveway and into the garage at 11:32 a.m., and someone drove the van past again about 15 seconds later, the complaints say.

Laffin told an investigator in January that he knew nothing about the incident and had nothing further to say. Kobow initially denied knowing about it during an April interview, then acknowledged the incident when investigators mentioned recorded jail calls.

Kobow denied driving around to look for the victim, saying he and Garrity went straight to work. The complaints describe no interview with Garrity.

Medical records documented fractured ribs and other injuries. Prosecutors filed the three cases in September 2026.