A Tavares man arrested twice last year on domestic battery charges is back in the Lake County Jail after he reportedly threw a bar of soap through his neighbor’s window and went on a destructive rampage in a nearby Circle K store.
Damon Hamilton Fish, 45, was charged with criminal mischief with damage greater than $1,000 and criminal trespassing at an occupied structure after the series of events, which started Tuesday morning on Willow Court, where Fish and the first victim are neighbors.
Fish’s neighbor told Tavares Police officers that Fish had been outside striking the windows of his own house with a trash can. The neighbor said Fish then walked into her yard and threw a bar of soap wrapped in a “sack” through her 14-year-old daughter’s window, causing it to break, according to the arrest report.
Fish’s neighbor said Fish left her property and went across the street, where he started yelling and banged on her door before ripping a piece of wood from the window. No damage was caused by the removal of the board, but the window will cost about $1,000 to repair, the report said.
Meanwhile, an employee at the Circle K store at 439 S. Duncan Drive said Fish approached him and “snatched” the handheld scanner out of his hand. He said Fish then threw the scanner on the ground and broke it, causing about $2,000 in damage, according to the report.
An auditor at the store said Fish went behind the front counter, removed packs of Newport cigarettes from the shelf, and told her to call law enforcement. She said Fish then approached her and “bowed up” as if he was about to hit her. He also took a polar pop cup filled with soda and thew it at the store auditor before grabbing another scanner from her and throwing it to the ground. Fish then placed the cigarettes on the shelf before exiting the store, the report said.
Police located Fish in the parking lot of the Dora Canal Plaza, 1045 Lake Harris Drive, according to the report.
Jail records show Fish was previously arrested in August 2022, and again in December 2022, and charged both times with domestic battery. He’s currently being held on $2,000 bond.
