An Ocala man found himself behind bars Monday night after a nasty tiff that left his man pal bloodied and crying.
Marion County sheriff’s deputies were called to a home on Pine Trace Drive shortly after 7 p.m. and when they arrived, the victim told them he had been cooking for 30-year-old Matthew Joseph Lindeman when he started “giving him attitude and being belligerent.” He said he told Lindeman to stop behaving that way or he wouldn’t cook for him, the report says.
The victim claimed Lindeman, originally from Albany, N.Y., then grabbed him by the neck and threw him onto the ground. He said Lindeman punched him in the mouth and the struggled on the ground momentarily before he was able to get away from him and call law enforcement for help, the report says, adding that the victim said he wasn’t able to breath when Lindeman allegedly grabbed him by the neck.
The victim, who was “actively crying,” was bleeding from his mouth. Deputies also noted several long, discolored scratches near his shoulder area and bruising on the sides of his neck, the report says.
Deputies then spoke with Lindeman, who was in his trailer on the west side of the residence. He denied that anything had happened between the two men and then refused to speak with his deputies after being read his rights. He was taken into custody and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with domestic battery (second or subsequent offense) and domestic battery by strangulation. He was being held on $5,000 bond and is due in court March 3 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charges.