A Leesburg man is accused stalking and threatening a married woman and her family after she ended their six-year affair.
Robert Lee Stephas, 49, was charged with stalking (dating violence) after his arrest Monday by Fruitland Park Police. The victim told an officer she had been in a sexual relationship with Stephas since 2017, according to the arrest report.
The victim stated she and Stephas ended their relationship the previous Friday due to her not wanting to do illegal narcotics with him, the report said. At the time, they were both in Cedar Key. She said Stephas battered her then, but she didn’t report it.
The victim then returned home, at which point Stephas called her and her husband’s phones and sent texts and video messages multiple times, the report said.
On Monday morning, the victim spoke with Stephas and told him to stop trying to contact her. She also discovered he had obtained a vehicle and was possibly trying to come to her house, at which point she told him not to come to her residence, the report said.
Stephas made “vague” threats to her and stated, “If I was a different type of ‘meth head’ I would throw a Molotov cocktail into your house.” He also told the victim her had several dreams where he kept “seeing a kid die.” He further stated that he was going to come to her house and show her oldest son a sexual video that Stephas and the victim had made, the report said.
At around 6 p.m. Monday, Stephas arrived at the victim’s house with a friend. He began banging on the front door of the house, screaming as he did so. He then started to bang on two of the windows, still screaming, the report said.
The victim explained that she had spoken with Stephas twice asking him to stop contacting her and was fearing for the life of herself, her family and her pets, the report said.
The victim’s husband provided law enforcement with video footage of the incident, the report said. Stephas was seen pulling up to the residence in a red Chevrolet pickup truck and banging on the door and front windows, telling one of the victim’s sons to open the door and making negative remarks about the victim’s husband. Stephas got back into his truck and left the residence at the end of the footage, according to the report.
The victim provided a possible location for Stephas at 821 Oak Drive in Leesburg. Officers responded to this address and knocked on the door. Stephas answered the door completely nude, the report said.
Officers asked Stephas to put clothes on, at which point he stated, “I’m not coming out” and tried to close the door. Officers gained physical control over him and placed him in handcuffs anyway. He was not willing to speak to law enforcement after his arrest.
The Illinois native was taken to the Lake County Detention Center, where bond was set at $5,000.
