A scorned Ocala man was arrested early Monday morning at a local motel after his ex-girlfriend claimed he snatched her purse as she was leaving her fast-food job.
Ocala Police officers responded to the Burger King at 4976 E Silver Springs Blvd. after receiving a call for help from an employee. When they arrived, a woman told them that her ex-boyfriend, 26-year-old Luther Lewis Lapole, had been waiting for her when she left the restaurant. She said she saw him sitting in the parking lot in his blue Chevrolet S-10 pickup.
The woman said Lapole exited his vehicle and started talking to her. She said he was upset because their relationship had ended and he punched a menu sign located near the drive-through bay in anger. She said she then walked away “before the situation escalated” and notified a friend of what was happening, a police report states.
At that point, the woman claimed, Lapole approached her from behind and “snatched her purse away from her, depriving her of her personal property, including the keys to the restaurant.
The woman said Lapole caused an injury and pain to her left arm. And she said he then “started acting erratic” and “driving recklessly” in the parking lot before leaving the restaurant, the report says.
Officers made contact with Lapole at the Queen’s Gardens Resort, located at 3330 S Pine Ave. He was arrested in room 103, where a police sergeant reported finding the victim’s purse hanging on a door. The purse was returned to the woman and Lapole was transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with domestic robbery by sudden snatch. He is being held on $10,000 bond and is due in a Marion County courtroom on July 9 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charge.
Lapole is no stranger to the Marion County legal system. He was arrested on Feb. 4 on an outstanding warrant for domestic assault. And on Nov. 30, 2011 he was charged with aggravated domestic assault on a pregnant victim, jail records show.