An Ocala woman was recently arrested after admitting on Facebook that she hit her friend with a metal pipe during an argument about the victim watching her children for a few hours.
The victim reported on May 21 that 30-year-old Stacey Link and her children were “hanging out” at the home. The victim said Link asked her to baby-sit her children for a few hours, which she said she did. The victim said Link returned and a verbal argument broke out over how long the victim had to watch the children, so Link picked up her children and left, according to the sheriff’s report.
The victim said Link returned to the home again and they started arguing about the victim dating their mutual friend, who was also at the home. The victim claimed during the argument, she walked over to get her tent she had in the yard. The victim claimed that Link approached her with a metal pipe in her hand and hit her in the forehead. The victim said she fell to the ground and Link punched her in the nose.
A Marion County deputy reported that he saw dry blood on the victim’s neck, in her hair, on her forehead and in her nose. The deputy also located the pipe and saw possible strands of hair stuck in-between two pieces along with dried blood on the driveway, according to the report.
Deputies responded to Link’s home and Link said she was with the victim the previous day. Link reported the victim became upset over watching her children for a few hours and an argument began. Link claimed the victim tried to stop her from leaving and talked about needing to defend herself. The victim denied ever trying to stop Link from leaving, the report stated.
Link later told deputies she did not want to speak anymore. Later that evening, the victim contacted the sheriff’s office because she said she had two screenshots via e-mail. The first screenshot was a comment from a Facebook post which was a photograph of the suspect, the victim and one other person. One of the comments made by “Stacey Link” read, “you know it’s sad cuz not long after this I hit that [expletive] with a metal pipe. I kinda feel bad but you deserved it.” The victim’s name was tagged in the comment, revealed the report.
Link was charged with aggravated battery and transported to the Marion County Jail with a bond set at $2,000. Link was booked on June 1 and bonded out the next day.