Judge allows villager to return home after alleged attack on woman

A judge has allowed a man to return home after an alleged attack on his wife at their home in The Villages.

The wife of 59-year-old Tony Black had contacted prosecutors asking if her husband could resume “peaceful” contact with her, according to documents on file in Lake County Court. A judge granted a motion on Friday allowing the couple to resume their living arrangements.

Black was arrested on September 27 after a neighbor heard screams coming from the couple’s home on Pebble Beach Lane in the Village of Orange Blossom Gardens, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department.

The neighbor walked to the house and saw a door that was slightly ajar. She tried to open the door, but it was pushed shut from the inside. The neighbor forced the door open and heard Black’s wife “hysterically screaming for help.” The woman told the neighbor that Black, who is 6 feet tall and weighs 245 pounds, had choked her, pulled her hair and prevented her from leaving the house. She indicated that she and Black, who have been married for 10 years, “had a disagreement over finances.”

When the woman tried to leave, Black forcibly removed her Apple Watch and threatened to smash her phone. He told her that if she called the police, they would “both die.”

The neighbor took the woman back to her house and called the police.

Black, a North Carolina native, remains free on $12,500 bond.