An Ocala man was arrested early New Year’s morning for allegedly battering a woman who has a protection order against him.
Dean Martin Lemessy, 51, was charged with domestic battery and violating a protection order that has been in effect since an incident in August 2018, when he was charged with aggravated battery causing bodily harm or disability and obstructing justice by tampering in a third-degree felony proceeding.
A Marion County sheriff’s deputy responded to the Circle K store at 5201 S. Pine Ave. shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday and saw a white Chevy Impala driving through the parking lot with no lights on. The deputy stopped the vehicle and confirmed the driver was Lemessy, according to the sheriff’s office report.
The victim told another deputy that she and Lemessy got into an argument at a bar and it continued at her residence. She said Lemessy became physical and pushed her to the ground by her shoulders. The victim said she wasn’t choked and didn’t remember if he grabbed her by the neck. She said she scratched and kicked Lemessy to get away, and she ran into a bedroom to call law enforcement, the report said.
The victim’s son said he only heard the verbal altercation between Lemessy and the victim, and he heard Lemessy yelling at the victim, according to the report.
Lemessy told the deputy he has been living with the victim at the incident location for the past eight months and that his lawyer told him the case had been dropped with regard to the injunction. He also said he got scratched on his neck. The deputy didn’t observe any injuries on the victim, the report said.
The deputy confirmed that the injunction was still in effect, and that Lemessy is not allowed within 500 feet of the victim. While being taken to the Marion County Jail, Lemessy changed his story, saying the victim didn’t scratch him and that he scratched himself, according to the report.
Lemessy is being held without bond, and no information about his court date was available Thursday.