An Ocala man was arrested after he allegedly battered his girlfriend and tried to run from police.
James Michael Nahabedian, 23, was charged with simple domestic battery and resisting without violence after the incident, which happened early in the morning of April 1 at the residence on SE 20th Court where he and the victim live.
The victim told an Ocala Police officer that Nahabedian had taken her wallet and keys and left after they got into a verbal argument the previous night. She said when Nahabedian didn’t return to the residence, she went to a friend’s house at around 1:30 a.m. and came home at around 5:20 a.m. to find things scattered around the residence, according to the OPD report.
The victim said the front sliding door and side door were broken and open, and her 40-inch Element TV and 27-inch Samsung were missing. She said she went to open her bedroom door but couldn’t because something was blocking it, and she believed Nahabedian was in the room and not letting her in, the report said.
The victim said she yelled for Nahabedian to come out, and when she didn’t, she got her cell phone to call the police. She said Nahabedian came out of the bedroom and struck her on the right side of her face with his hands, then grabbed her phone and ran out of the residence, according to the report.
Another officer observed a man fitting Nahabedian’s description running north across the street around the 2000 block of East Silver Springs Boulevard. The officer said Nahabedian looked right at him, then turned and started to run faster. The officer chased the Nahabedian into the Wing House parking lot, where he stopped running and put up his hands, the report said.
Nahabedian said he was home the previous night and the victim wasn’t home when he woke up at around 9 p.m. He said he took her wallet and went to the Blue Highway pizza restaurant at 2130 E. Silver Springs Road thinking she was there, but she wasn’t, according to the report.
Nahabedian said he didn’t return home until around 5 a.m., and he placed a dresser in front of the bedroom door because he thought the victim would be mad when she got home. He said putting the dresser in front of the door would allow him to sleep and give him a warning before the victim contacted him, the report said.
Nahabedian said when he heard the victim trying to get into the bedroom, he waited and then left the room. He said only a verbal altercation took place and that he left the residence because he was told by police in a prior incident to just leave if they got into a dispute, according to the report.
The officer observed clothes and belongings scattered inside and outside along the side of the residence. There was also damage to the sliding glass and side doors, and there were no TVs in the residence. The officer observed red marks on the right side of the victim’s face, the report said.
Another officer found the victim’s keys along a fence and her cell phone under a shed behind the property, according to the report.
Nahabedian said he didn’t know how the victim got the red marks on her face and denied taking the TVs out of the residence. He said the victim hides the TVs on occasion or gives them to a friend to hold. Asked why he tried to run away when the officer was driving towards him, Nahabedian said he just saw the headlights and started to run, the report said.
Nahabedian was taken to the Marion County Jail, where he was released Tuesday on $2,000 bond. He’s scheduled to appear in Marion County Court on May 7.