A Marion County sheriff’s deputy arrested a 77-year-old retired Ocala man Monday night after he grabbed a juvenile and left red marks on his arm.
The deputy responded to a home in the 3500 block of NE 59th Avenue and spoke with the boy’s mother, who had called for help. The boy then told the deputy that he and several of his friends had gotten off the school bus and stopped at a neighbor’s house to play on a table set that was marked “free.”
The boy said 77-year-old Neil Terry Roberson then came out of his house, located at 5911 NE 35th St., and started yelling at him and his friends to leave. The boy said they weren’t on Roberson’s property and the game table didn’t belong to him, a sheriff’s office report states.
The boy said Roberson “was upset” and continued to yell at them before grabbing his left arm for about a minute and telling him to leave. Roberson eventually released the boy and returned to his home, the report says, adding that the deputy could see red marks on the boy’s triceps area.
The deputy then responded to Roberson’s house and questioned him about the incident. Roberson said he knew why the deputy was there and confirmed that he had told the boy and his friends to quit playing on the neighbor’s table “to prevent them from breaking it,” the report says.
After being read his rights, Roberson admitted to grabbing the boy by the arm and telling him to leave. He said he was aware that he didn’t have rights to the residential property or the table, as they didn’t belong to him. And he confirmed that he had no guardianship or parental rights to discipline the boy, the report says.
Roberson, who also was arrested on a traffic/DUI charge in February 1999, was taken into custody and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with battery. He was released at midnight Tuesday on $1,000 bond.