An Ocala man was arrested recently after his lady friend claimed he was threatening her in regard to dropping charges filed against him in a previous battery case.
The victim told Marion County sheriff’s deputies that 51-year-old George Robert Pineda was arrested in October 2020 for battery after allegedly hitting her with a belt. She claimed it wasn’t a domestic case because they were only roommates and didn’t have a relationship.
The victim said she still has a room at the residence but stays with a friend to avoid contact with Pineda. She told deputies that her disabled mother still lives there and she goes to visit and help her when Pineda is at work, a sheriff’s office report states.
The victim said Pineda arrived home from work early on a recent day and started yelling at her. She said she locked herself in her room and called law enforcement. She said while she was on the phone calling for help Pineda was banging on the door and yelling for her to open it so “he could choke her to death,” the report says.
The victim claimed that Pineda was trying to intimidate her to get her to withhold her testimony in his previous arrest. The dispatcher who was speaking with the victim also reported hearing a male banging on the door and yelling on the phone with the victim, the report says.
A woman at the home confirmed she heard Pineda banging on the door and saying “he was going to beat the victim to death,” the report says. The relationship between the witness and the victim wasn’t made clear in the report.
Pineda was arrested and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with obstructing justice/tampering in a felony third-degree proceeding. His bond also was revoked on the previous charge of battery (second or subsequent offense). He was being held without bond and is due in court June 8 at 9 a.m., jail records show.