A Leesburg woman, Rhonda Lynn Crecelius, 58, was arrested on a domestic simple-battery charge after a dispute with her injured son over his oxycodone, an arrest report says. The report describes allegations of physical contact by both of them: Crecelius allegedly slapped her son, who was in a wheelchair, and her son was also accused of grabbing and slapping her.
The Leesburg Police arrest report, as summarized by Leesburg-News.com, says officers responded to a Leesburg residence on October 8. Crecelius was arrested for simple battery, domestic. According to the report, she said the argument was about her son’s medication: he wanted two oxycodone pills, while she offered one.
The report says the son told officers he last took oxycodone at 8 a.m. and had been texting his girlfriend to keep track of when he needed another dose. He also alleged that his mother had withheld his medication before. Crecelius, meanwhile, told officers that her son had refused physical therapy and leg rehabilitation.
A Physical Altercation Unfolds
The arrest report says the son asked for the medication bottle and Crecelius threw it outside. He then grabbed a counter, knocking items to the floor, and his injured leg caught on a coffee-table leg, according to the report.
The report describes further physical contact by both parties. Crecelius allegedly pushed her son in the chest and later pushed him toward the door from behind his wheelchair. The son reportedly grabbed her by the throat and slapped her across the throat; Crecelius allegedly slapped him across the face. The report says the son told her she was hurting him and to stop.
Crecelius told dispatchers that her son had hit her during the medication argument, the report says. She told officers she had not lost the ability to breathe when he grabbed her neck and had no injuries to her neck or arms, according to the report.
Officers Find Injuries, Son Outside in Wheelchair
Officers found the son outside in his wheelchair, according to the report. It describes two fresh, bloody abrasions on his chest, redness and a scratch on the right side of his face, an already injured left knee, and a brace on his left wrist.
The report says Crecelius stayed in a bathroom with her grandchildren and would not come out until law enforcement arrived. She told investigators that her son had undergone 13 surgeries between June and September after a motorcycle accident.
Crecelius was booked at the Lake County Jail and released on her own recognizance, according to the report. Her court appearance is scheduled for October 28.
When Disability Status Matters Under Florida Law
The Florida Office of the State Courts Administrator’s elder-abuse benchbook says Florida’s Chapter 415 definition of a vulnerable adult requires an impairment that affects daily activities or the person’s ability to provide for their own care or protection. It also says temporary physical disability or dysfunction does not meet that definition. The benchbook describes separate Chapter 825 criminal definitions for an “elderly person” and a “disabled adult”; an elderly person is at least 60 and has infirmities of aging. The arrest account does not establish whether the son meets either Chapter 825 definition or Chapter 415’s vulnerable-adult definition. Those status questions are distinct from the battery allegation, and the information in the arrest account does not establish whether the reported medication dispute would qualify as abuse or neglect.
What Florida Law Says About Battery Charges
Under Florida Statutes, section 784.03, battery occurs when a person intentionally touches or strikes another person against that person's will or intentionally causes bodily harm. The statute generally classifies battery as a first-degree misdemeanor unless another exception applies. The available evidence does not establish whether Crecelius has entered a plea or what the case's final disposition will be.
