The defendant in a December kidnapping and home invasion that left an accomplice dead and a state trooper wounded told police that he targeted an Eldersburg home in search of drugs and money.

Ronald Jerome Presco, 37, of Baltimore, told police he and another man “went to the house to get reefer in a drug rip. They were confident that they would find a large amount of marijuana in the house,” state police Trooper 1st Class Michael Mann testified Wednesday in Carroll County Circuit Court.

“He said the threats to the family were because they were angry that they weren’t finding the drugs in the house that they thought would be there.”

Jamisson South, 23, her fiancé, Christopher Joel Sokol, and her younger brother Garrett South, 20, were watching TV downstairs and about to smoke the small amount of marijuana in their possession, Jamisson South testified Tuesday.

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Presco, and a gun-wielding cousin, Steven Tyrone Jones, 39, of Woodlawn, burst downstairs and used handcuffs, computer wires and duct tape to restrain the family.

They stole an engagement ring, cell phones, money and a PlayStation and kept asking, “Where is he? This isn’t random,” according to court testimony and charging documents.

An older brother, Levi South, now 26, came home from work, and Presco told police that Levi South voluntarily took him to his place of work, Village Services, a Randallstown check-cashing, lottery and poker-machine joint.

Police fire killed Jones a week later after he shot state Trooper 1st Class Eric Workman during his arrest.

Presco could face more than 100 years in prison for 31 counts of kidnapping, armed robbery, assault, false imprisonment and other charges.

State’s Attorney Jerry Barnes finished calling witnesses Wednesday.

The trial continues today.

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com