Deputies were busy with domestic cases

One suspect last weekend fired his rifle into the ground, another attacked his parents after getting drunk at a wedding reception and another spat on a deputy, authorities said.

That wasn’t even the half of it.

The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office was on a binge last weekend arresting suspects accused of domestic assault or battery, according to reports.

In all, nine people were jailed from Friday morning to Sunday evening. Most of them were held without bond.

The first arrest came shortly before 1 a.m. Friday when a deputy responded to the Quality Inn along U.S. 19 near Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.

When the deputy arrived, he noticed a woman with a bloody, swollen lip and a red mark on the side of her face, he wrote in his arrest affidavit.

Joseph Wingate, who has been the accuser’s boyfriend for 15 years, was accused of punching, shoving and throwing a coffee pot at her.

Deputies said the pot was thrown at the accuser’s legs and it broke and cut her.

Wingate left the hotel in his car and was picked up later in the area of State Road 50 and Deltona Boulevard. Deputies said he attacked his girlfriend while she was in the bathroom because he suspected she was on the phone with another man.

Wingate and his girlfriend both live in Tampa and they were in town for some scalloping, according to the sheriff’s office.

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Danny Renney Jr., 23, of 4494 Orlando Ave. in Brooksville, was arrested shortly before 10:30 a.m. Saturday on charges of assault and criminal mischief following allegations he damaged his live-in girlfriend’s car with a baseball bat and fired a shot from his rifle into the ground.

Renney also told his girlfriend he would “lay her out,” according to an arrest report.

The accuser fled the house with her infant child in her arms and went to a neighbor’s house, at which time Renney fired the rifle while standing in the front yard, deputies said.

Renney admitted to damaging his girlfriend’s car, but denied firing the rifle, according to the report.

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Thomas Andrew Meier Jr., 22, of 4436 Baseball Pond Drive in Brooksville, was arrested shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday on three charges of domestic battery.

Deputies said Meier – along with his parents and brother – were riding home from a wedding reception that day.

During the ride along Mariner Boulevard in the area of Audie Brook Drive, Meier “got agitated” and started hitting his mother, father and brother, according to the sheriff’s office.

All three tried restraining Meier and the driver of the vehicle pulled over in a gas station parking lot, but the suspect continued swinging, deputies said.

During the altercation, Meier bit his mother on her arm, according to an arrest affidavit.

Meier was severely intoxicated and sustained minor injuries during the fight, so he was transported to Spring Hill Regional Hospital for medical clearance before being taken to the Hernando County Jail, deputies said.

Meier was last convicted of battery in August 2010, according to records.

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While deputies were taking care of Meier, another responded to 11427 Pelican Ave. in Weeki Wachee following reports of another domestic battery case.

Vincente Hernandez Lopez Jr., 44, was accused of punching his nephew several times in the face because he refused to give him his last cigarette.

Lopez’s two sons witnessed the incident and told deputies their father attacked their cousin, according to an arrest report.

Lopez had left the house on foot before deputies arrived, but he was discovered later with assistance from the K-9 unit, authorities said.

He was arrested on charges of felony domestic battery and possession of marijuana. For the latter charge, deputies said they found a small plastic bag filled with the drug in the suspect’s pocket.

“(He) was intoxicated and did not want to talk to me regarding the incident,” wrote Deputy Cari Smith in her report.

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Ashley Nichole Price, 25, of 14065 Pam Drive in Brooksville, was a battery victim, deputies said. But by 3 a.m. Sunday, she faced more charges than her accused attacker.

Price was charged with battery, battery against a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest without violence.

Her alleged attacker, Lawrence Joseph Sizemore Jr., 30, of 10465 Sunshine Grove Road in Brooksville, was charged with battery following allegations he tried pulling Price out of her vehicle. Deputies said Price was trying to drive away drunk.

Sizemore successfully pulled her out of the car, but the pair began fighting each other in Sizemore’s front yard, according to an arrest affidavit.

When Deputy Christopher Morito arrived, Sizemore was belligerent and uncooperative, he wrote in his report. Morito said he put Sizemore in handcuffs for the suspect’s safety and his own.

Price, meanwhile, was similarly disruptive and profane, according to Morito’s report.

She flailed her arms and tried jumping from Morito’s grasp as he handcuffed her, he wrote.

He corralled her and put her in the backseat of his patrol cruiser. She responded by spitting on his pants, according to the sheriff’s office.

Price also kicked the rear window of the deputy’s vehicle and knocked it out of track, authorities said.

After she was read her Miranda rights, Price kept talking, but she was “extremely intoxicated” and couldn’t speak clearly, Morito wrote.

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Two half-sisters were arrested on domestic battery charges early Sunday morning – one of whom had been arrested at least three times previously for the same charge.

Michelle Marie Botsch, 19, and Dorothy Jean Sieber, 27, both of 2212 Gaucho Ave. in Spring Hill, were arrested at 7:30 a.m.

Because of a prior drug conviction for Sieber, she was charged with violation of probation.

Deputy Joey Stokes said Botch and Sieber were separated earlier that same morning because they were arguing.

Sieber was told she should leave the house, but would be allowed to return later because she lived there, according to the sheriff’s office.

When she arrived, Botsch would not let her inside, so she called the authorities, deputies said.

Stokes arrived and witnessed the two women arguing. He instructed them to stay separated and Sieber was allowed to go inside and collect a few of her belongings, according to an arrest affidavit.

After the two continued arguing, Stokes warned them if their yelling escalated, both would be arrested, he wrote.

Botsch came outside and told Stokes, “Get your handcuffs ready,” according to the affidavit.

She went back inside and shut the door. When Stokes came in, he witnessed them fighting and pulling each other’s hair, deputies said.

Sieber has been charged with battery four times since August 2011, according to jail records.

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Tammy L. Olive, 40, of 16103 Bradenton St. in Brooksville, was arrested shortly after 5 p.m. on a charge of domestic battery.

She was booked at the jail sporting a black eye.

Deputies said she struck Jason Hill, 38, in the face with an open hand.

Hill told deputies he suffered a swollen jaw from the slap, but no injuries were found, according to an arrest report.

Hill responded to the slap by hitting Olive with his fist, which caused the black eye and a cut over her left eyebrow, deputies said.

Olive went to Brooksville Regional Hospital, where she was subsequently arrested.

In her report, Deputy Kimberly Burger stated Olive was the one taken to jail because she was the primary aggressor.

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