A Leesburg man was arrested after allegedly battering a pregnant woman because she did not charge his daughter’s tablet.
Police responded to 238 Eagles Watch Street in Leesburg around 9:45 p.m. Saturday, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department.
Upon arrival, the officer met with 32-year-old Keithen Jamar Rawlings. According to him, he went to the female victim’s house to see his child. He and the victim got into a verbal altercation about his child’s tablet not being charged while he was there, the report said.
Rawlings, who had been arrested in 2014 for his involvement in a stickup at Evans Prairie Country Club in The Villages, said something about the tablet not being charged which made the victim upset, so she told him to come charge it himself. This angered him, and he told her to “take that slick stuff elsewhere.” She came toward Rawlings and tried to grab his shirt, almost ripping it off his body in the process, the report said.
As Rawlings tried to push her away, she bit his right arm. He grabbed the victim’s cellphone and threw it out of anger which caused it to be damaged. After throwing the cell phone, Rawlings left the area and went to the address police responded to, the report said.
While one officer spoke with Rawlings, another was flagged down by the victim on McCormack Street. In her statement, she advised that before Rawlings arrived at her home to pick up his child, he told her to charge the tablet. He asked the victim where the charger was when he finally got there, the report said.
The victim told Rawlings to “ask her,” meaning his daughter, and he threatened to slap her in the face. The victim laughed in his face and told him to leave. As she watched TV in her bedroom, he snatched the remote out of her hands and walked out of the room, the report said.
The victim followed Rawlings to the living room and asked for the remote back, but he said no and pushed her away from him. She grabbed his shirt trying to get it. Rawlings then took her $1,000 phone from her bedroom and slammed it to the ground, the report said.
In response, the victim pushed Rawlings towards the front door and told him to get out. He pushed her into the child’s playroom, to which the victim reacted by biting his arm in self-defense. He grabbed her in a chokehold to slam her to the ground, the report said.
The victim then yelled out to the child to open the front door so she could call for help, but Rawlings told her to close the door. The child saw everything and told Rawlings to stop instead. He took the victim into the back room and ran outside the residence, the report said.
When the investigation concluded, Rawlings was arrested on charges of domestic battery (pregnant victim – no injury) and criminal mischief (over $200 under $1,000). The New Jersey native was transported to the Lake County Jail with bond set at $6,000.
