A Leesburg man with a long rap sheet was arrested Thursday on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from a violent argument with his girlfriend that spiraled out of control a week earlier.
Anfernee Clark, 27, and his girlfriend were gathering their belongings on July 22 in preparation for a move from a house on McCormack Street when they began arguing about her ex-boyfriend. The argument turned violent as Clark shoved her to the ground behind the house. When she reached for her cell phone to call 911, he broke it, chased her down the street and repeatedly punched her in the face while holding her down by the neck, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department.
A neighbor heard the woman’s screams and tried to intervene as she ran to his door for help. Clark told the man to “mind [his] own business” and smashed a window pane in his door, Leesburg police say. When the neighbor called the police, Clark ran to his car and drove off.
After police arrived, they discovered that the woman’s belongings — including clothes, cash and debit cards — were missing from the shed behind the house where she had been staying with Clark. They also observed her dress was ripped in half, she had cuts on her arms, and her right eye was swollen, but she declined medical treatment.
Clark has been charged with battery, petit theft, tampering with a witness, criminal mischief, trespassing, weapons possession by a convicted felon and violating his parole terms.
Clark was previously convicted for battery in 2018, and Lake County records indicate he has been arrested 12 times in the last eight years on charges ranging from armed robbery and battery on a law enforcement officer to drug possession with the intent to sell. He was booked at the Lake County Jail on $26,000 bond.
