GIRARD - A Vienna man who authorities believe was twice shot by his wife this week in a lover's quarrel appeared in court on allegations he sold crack cocaine from his home.
Craig Hoffman, 33, 4499 Warren Sharon Road, entered no plea Friday in Girard Municipal Court on a drug trafficking charge. Bond was set at $50,000, and he is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Wednesday.
The charges stemmed from a search warrant obtained by police after they entered his home following the shooting and saw evidence of drug trafficking.
Records detailed the couple's history, including a legal separation in November and that Craig Hoffman had faced charges on claims he headbutted his wife in 2007.
Brooke Hoffman, 38, is facing two counts of felonious assault and drug trafficking charges stemming from this week's incident. She remained in St. Elizabeth Health Center on Friday.
Police believe Brooke Hoffman shot Craig Hoffman first, and afterwards she was shot behind the left ear as the two struggled over a gun.
Craig Hoffman was shot in the leg and shoulder area, according to reports.
Reports said officers arrived at the home and held Craig Hoffman, who was holding a shotgun, at gunpoint. Craig Hoffman told police his wife had tried to kill him and that she was in the bedroom.
When police entered the bedroom they found Brooke Hoffman "laying face down on the bed with her left arm under her chest and her right arm over her head," and that she was unresponsive to their commands.
One officer then shocked Brooke Hoffman with a Taser until he was advised by another officer that she was unconscious, reports said.
Craig Hoffman told police that his wife had read text messages and came in and shot him.
Vienna police Chief Andrew Pecchio said the numerous guns and drugs, including what appeared to be crack cocaine, discovered immediately after the shooting prompted authorities to seek a warrant to search the apartment and other property owned by the couple, including vehicles, cell phones and computers.
According to an inventory receipt, some 50 items were returned with the search warrant, including numerous weapons, ammunition, suspected drugs and drug paraphernalia, a propane torch, bloody clothing and blood samples collected on swabs that forensic experts can use for DNA testing, a plastic organizer containing glass pipes and cell phone.
The couple's violent history included an incident in 2008 when Brooke Hoffman rammed into her neighbor's home with a truck looking for her husband, and when Craig Hoffman headbutting his wife the year before.
A records search showed that Howland police officers went to the couple's 3313 Larchmont Ave. N.E. home on May 24, 2007, and found Brooke Hoffman with a cut on her head and blood running down her chest.
She told police they were fighting and that Craig Hoffman headbutted her. Reports said Brooke Hoffman, who they suspected was intoxicated, refused to give a statement to police and yelled obscenities at them as they arrested her husband.
Craig Hoffman was charged with domestic violence and later convicted in Warren Municipal Court of disorderly conduct. He was sentenced to one year of probation.