[PHOTO CREDIT: iStock / AlexLinch]
[Original Publish Date: 11/15/19]
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LAKE COUNTY, Florida – Lake County Sheriff’s Office school resource deputies were busy Thursday with three separate arrests at three local schools.
At Tavares High School Thursday, a 16-year-old boy was arrested for battery by strangulation and stalking after the victim told the SRD the boy had been putting his hands on her the entire school year. Lake Legal News is not identifying the suspect due to his age.
According to an arrest affidavit, the victim was visibly upset and crying when she told the SRD the boy had pulled a knife on her Nov. 8 and cut her in several different places in the parking lot of AMC Theaters, located in the Lake Square Mall. Leesburg Police were notified about that incident.
She also told the SRD almost every time the boy comes across her at Tavares High School, he chokes her. It most often occurs during lunch period, the affidavit states, but he has walked by her in the hall and choked her as well. She said the boy usually uses one hand and puts it to her throat and squeezes, most of the time to the point she cannot breathe. She said if she tells him to stop he usually squeezes harder. She told the SRD when they hang out between Buildings 5 and 6, the boy puts his hand up her shirt and fondles her breasts. When asked why she did not defend herself, the victim stated she was worried about being suspended from school for fighting.
The SRD interviewed a witness and asked her if the suspect was ever provoked, “No. It is weird. He comes up to (the victim,) pushes her up to the wall and chokes her. Sometimes he just reaches over out of nowhere and chokes her,” the witness said.
The victim’s mother responded to the school and told the SRD she was aware of the knife incident Nov. 8 and tried to convince her daughter to report it, she also stated she had observed bruises on her daughter’s legs within the last week, according to the affidavit. The mother provided the deputy with a sworn affidavit to prosecute. The suspect was arrested and taken to the Lake County Jail for processing.
At Tavares Middle School Thursday, a 12-year-old girl was arrested for battery on a specified employee. Lake Legal News is not identifying the suspect due to her age. The incident began Thursday morning with a book being thrown out of a school bus window; the suspect told the school’s SRD that “someone” tossed her book out of the window and one of the school’s assistant principals called her an “expletive” and, “No white person was going to call her an (expletive,)” the affidavit states. Video surveillance showed the suspect did in fact throw her book out of the bus.
The SRD interviewed four witnesses who said it was the suspect who was aggressive towards the victim; one witness said she saw the suspect put her stuff down and rush over to the victim and ”got right up in her face,” and proceeded to call her an (expletive,) the affidavit states.
Another witness stated she saw the suspect “chest bump” the victim and yet another witness stated the suspect “blew past the victim and told her, “(Expletive,) I am going to get my stuff.” The victim told her not to call her an (expletive) and the suspect closed in on her, bumped her with her chest and placed her finger in the shape of a gun on the victim’s head.
The suspect was processed and turned over to her mother.
At Oak Park Middle School Thursday, a 13-year-old boy was arrested for battery on a person 65 years or older. Lake Legal News is not identifying the suspect due to his age.
According to an arrest affidavit, a 74-year-old bus monitor told the suspect to sit in a specific seat on the bus, to which he refused. The suspect attempted to move to the back of the bus and the bus monitor blocked his path and again told him to sit up front, the affidavit states. The suspect refused again and began to climb over the seats and the monitor put up his arm to block the suspect’s path.
The defendant tried to muscle through the bus monitor’s arm and the bus monitor wrapped his arms around the suspect’s legs. The suspect then yelled, “Let (expletive) go of me,” and put the bus monitor in a headlock, the affidavit states. The monitor asked the bus driver to call law enforcement several times and let go of the suspect’s legs. The suspect then released the monitor and moved to the back of the bus.
Video surveillance coincided with the victim and witness statements. The boy was arrested released to his mother.
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Our Editor-in-Chief, Marilyn M. Aciego, began writing for Lake Legal News in 2010. In addition, she has made more than two dozen appearances on live national television, including Nancy Grace and the Greta Van Susteren show, along with her appearance on Evil Twins. Contact her with breaking news, tips, and feedback by sending an e-mail to 352Tips@gmail.com. You can also contact us on our Facebook page — and make sure you “Like” and “Follow us” there. [PHOTO CREDIT: Bonnie Whicher]
