A homeless woman in Leesburg was arrested for child abuse for her violent and inappropriate actions toward two juveniles.
Officers responded to a 911 call from The Crossings at Leesburg apartment complex at 9:20 p.m. Tuesday, May 26, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department. In a second call from the same location, dispatch could hear a woman, later identified as 21-year-old C, screaming threats and banging on a door.
Upon arrival, the officers found a crowd of about 15 people yelling at each other in the hallway near the apartment where the call originated. As more units arrived on scene, the officers were able to separate everyone for interviews, the report said.
An officer first spoke with C, who stated she had been at her mother’s nearby apartment. She was asked to leave during a verbal argument, so she began to walk through the complex. She then passed a group of juveniles gathered near the stairwell, the report said.
They befriended her, possibly because she was carrying a kitten, and she stayed to talk with them. At some point, an argument broke out after the juveniles dropped her kitten from what she believed was an unsafe distance. The juveniles then went up the stairwell and into their unit with her kitten, so she followed them to get it back, the report said.
C started knocking on the door, to which a juvenile opened it and began a physical altercation with her. Another juvenile and a witness became involved, causing her to be struck an unknown number of times and slammed into a wall. The report noted she had her kitten in her arms while she explained this to law enforcement. She did not say how she got it back or why she had not contacted the police for help.
The officers moved on to speak with the juveniles and witnesses. A female juvenile victim advised that she and her friends had seen C walking through the neighborhood, and they exchanged pleasantries to be friendly. C stayed to hang out with them for a while until the juvenile victim, her brother and the rest of the group returned to their residence with C’s kitten placed outside the door, the report said.
C followed them upstairs because she believed they had taken her kitten. Due to this, she began loudly banging on the door to their residence to the point that she damaged the door. To get her to stop, the juvenile victim opened it, the report said.
C proceeded to hit her on the face and pull her hair until she was outside. Once in the hallway, the juvenile victim’s sister came into the hallway and tried to break up the fight, the report said.
Her juvenile brother, the second victim, corroborated this account, the report said. He added that when they were all in the stairwell, C repeatedly stroked his leg intimately and affectionately. She directed comments toward him, including, “I can’t wait until you turn 18,” and asked if the manner of touch “made him hard.”
He told C this made him uncomfortable and went upstairs to escape her. She followed him up and continued trying to touch him, so he attempted to push her away. This escalated into a physical altercation between the two that sparked the other altercation with his sister, the report said.
During another interview, C stated the juvenile brother had been the one making intimate advances on her, not the other way around. Her actions toward the other involved parties were defensive, and she had not initiated them, the report said.
Both victims, C and the witnesses appeared sweaty and out of breath while speaking with law enforcement, consistent with a recent physical struggle. The juvenile victim sustained minor swelling on her forehead and temple. C sustained a noticeable bump near her right temple, the report said.
Additionally, the victims’ mother arrived on the scene to say C caused the damage to the door. This included several dents and discoloration, pieces of the exterior knocker on the ground and displaced glass from the peephole. The door was fully functional, but the damage would cost $200 to fix, the report said.
A subsequent check of C’s criminal history revealed one prior conviction for criminal mischief, with a final decision date of Oct. 24, 2023, the report said.
C was subsequently arrested on charges of lewd and lascivious conduct (victim less than 16 years old), two counts of child abuse (simple assault or battery) and criminal mischief.
Due to complaints of a head injury and concerns for a seven-week pregnancy, she was transported to UF Health Leesburg Hospital, located at 600 E Dixie Ave., for medical evaluation. She was cleared and booked at the Lake County Jail with bond set at $20,000.
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Source: lessburg-news
