A 61-year-old Florida man woke up on his birthday to a visitor wishing him well, and by his account, it went downhill from there.
The visitor was Courtney Jean Arnstein, 27, of Wildwood. She has been held at the Sumter County Detention Center since Tuesday afternoon. The Sumter County Sheriff's Office jail roster shows she was booked at 1:31 p.m. on Sept. 29 on one charge: battery, second or subsequent offense, listed as a third-degree felony. (A Facebook page that reposts local bookings, Sumter County FL. Rockin That Orange Jumpsuit, shared the entry not long after.)
How things got there comes from the Sheriff's Office arrest report, which Villages-News obtained. And as with a lot of these cases, the story the deputy first heard was not the full one.
The "verbal altercation" that wasn't, allegedly
Around 8:30 a.m. that Tuesday, a deputy was called to a disturbance involving Arnstein at a Wildwood home. The address hasn't been released. Arnstein told the deputy that she and the man had argued that day, and that it was only a verbal argument.
The man told a different story, and it began four days earlier.
He said that on Friday, Sept. 25, his birthday, Arnstein came to his door at 6 a.m. to wish him a happy one. He let her in. She then started yelling at him, he said, for no reason he could tell. He told deputies he asked whether she was high, citing how she was acting and what the report calls her history of drug abuse. He said that's when she grabbed him by the neck and choked him.
He pushed her onto a couch to get free, according to the report. She got back up, still yelling and screaming. He said he thought she was about to come at him again, so he wrapped his arms around her, and the two of them fell to the floor. Arnstein eventually calmed down enough to leave.
He came away with a carpet burn on his right knee and a minor scratch on the right side of his abdomen. The report does not say how the two know each other.
Deputies interviewed both of them several times. The man's account stayed the same each time, per the report. Arnstein's did not. She was arrested.
In the back of the patrol car, the report says, Arnstein threatened suicide and slammed her head into the partition, injuring herself.
About that bond
The two records disagree on bail. Villages-News reports, citing the arrest report, that bond was set at $5,000. As of the booking entry, the Sheriff's jail roster listed the charge as "NO BOND" and showed no court case number yet. Either the bond changed at first appearance, or one of the two records is wrong. We'll update when the court file is available through the Sumter County Clerk of Court.
The charge listed on the booking entry
The jail roster lists the charge as battery, second or subsequent offense, a third-degree felony.
According to the arrest report, Arnstein has three prior convictions: two for battery and one for aggravated assault.
Arnstein was booked on one charge: battery, second or subsequent offense.
None of the allegations in the current case has been proven in court.
If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
