A Leesburg woman and her Ocala cohort were arrested after allegedly attacking a guest staying at the Rodeway Inn.
Officers responded to Rodeway Inn, located at 1115 W North Blvd., for a battery involving 33-year-old Temperance Diane Porter and 36-year-old Cierra Gooden at 9:50 a.m. Saturday, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department.
Upon arrival, they found an agitated Porter in the parking lot. She advised that she came to the inn to get her money back from a guest staying in one of the rooms. She pulled the guest’s “weave” out during an altercation and pointed to some red and black braided hair lying on the ground, the report said.
A check of surveillance footage showed Gooden parked her vehicle in a space where the guest briefly approached. A second SUV then drove up, and Porter got out to exchange words with the guest. Shortly after, Porter grabbed the guest by her hair and pulled her down. Gooden stepped in to grab the guest’s arms as Porter started punching her in the face, the report said.
An officer subsequently spoke with the guest in her room, the report said. She stated she saw Porter and Gooden circling the parking lot in their vehicles and assumed it was her sister, who she was waiting for. She walked downstairs toward Gooden’s vehicle and realized it was not her sister. She was then attacked by Porter and Gooden, as seen in the surveillance footage.
Porter and Gooden were arrested for battery and booked at the Lake County Jail. They were released after posting their respective $1000 bonds.
Porter was also arrested in Aug. 2022 after giving her sister’s name during a traffic stop.