Man accused of attacking sisters
SPRING HILL — Jeffrey Alan Phillips, of Spring Hill, is in jail after being charged with trying to strangle his live-in girlfriend and her sister.
It started when Phillips, 44, the owner of a pizza take-out restaurant, was at the Karma Bar on Thursday with girlfriend Vanessa Pace, Hernando County deputies said. The two began arguing and Phillips left, according to a sheriff’s report.
He later called the bar and spoke with Pace and continued the argument, deputies reported.
Pace and her sister, Indya Huckell, then went to the home Pace shared with Phillips on Bedford Road so she could pick up her children and take them to the sister’s house.
Huckell went inside the home first and encountered Phillips, who grasped his hands around her throat, pushed her against a wall and threw her on the ground, sheriff’s officials said.
Pace entered next and saw her boyfriend choking her sister while holding her on the ground, the report states.
She tried to help her Huckell, yelling “stop” repeatedly, and told the children to call 911, the officials said. Phillips grabbed a large picture of Marilyn Monroe, held it above his head and swung it down, striking Pace on the head, the report says. He then began choking her before throwing her to the ground, deputies said.
When Huckell tried to pull Phillips off her sister, he again pinned Huckell against a wall and struck her two to three times in the left temple with a five-pound metal dumbbell while yelling profanities, the report says.
Deputies spoke with Phillips’ 20-year-old son, Kyle Phillips, who said there had been previous fights at the home, officials reported.
Phillips was arrested and charged with domestic battery by strangulation. He also was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. On Friday he was being held with no bail on the domestic battery charge.
Hernando Today staff
