An Ocala man was jailed recently after being accused of coming at his man friend with a knife and threatening to kill him.
Marion County sheriff’s deputies were called to an Ocala residence last week, where the elderly victim claimed he was in fear of his life when 39-year-old Billy James Pedraza became irate and walked toward him aggressively. The victim said he had been forced to grab a wooden board to protect himself from Pedraza after he grabbed a kitchen knife, a sheriff’s office report states.
A witness told deputies that the victim was her husband and she got in-between the two when Pedraza came at the man with a knife. She later recanted her story and said that Pedraza became irate and started throwing things off the counter before coming at the victim without a knife, the report says.
After being read his rights, Pedraza told deputies that the victim was trying to kick him out of the residence so he was leaving. He claimed the victim came at him with a stick and hit him the head several times. Deputies noted that the victim was using a walker and it appeared he had a difficult time getting around the house.
Pedraza, who didn’t have any marks or bruises on his head to correlate his account of the incident, was taken into custody and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with simple domestic assault on a person 65 years of age or older. He was being held on $5,000 bond and is due in court May 13 at 1 p.m. to answer to the charge.
Pedraza also was arrested in May 2018 after an 85-year-old roommate claimed he pinned him onto the ground during an altercation. The elderly victim told deputies that Pedraza confronted him in his room at a home on SW 45th Circle because he was upset about a matter regarding their vehicle.