A Villager posted bond and walked out of the Sumter County Jail Thursday morning after his arrest in a bizarre incident the night before at a recreation center.
A janitor working at about 10:30 p.m. at the Burnsed Recreation Center was startled when taking out the trash and 61-year-old James Joseph Peters of the Village of Osceola Hills at Lake Deaton jumped from behind a trash collection bin, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. Peters, who had been spotted earlier sleeping on a bench at the recreation center, told the female janitor he needed help getting the keys from his house. Peters followed the female janitor inside the recreation center where another employee told him to leave because the recreation center was closed. The janitor said Peters walked back outside and was pacing back and forth, while peeking through the windows.
When deputies arrived on the scene, Peters told them he did not have to speak with them and told one deputy he “would have (his) job.” Peters was placed under arrest on a charge of loitering and prowling.
As deputies tried to handcuff Peters, he struggled with them, causing the deputies to fall on top of Peters.
He is also facing a charge of resisting arrest.
He was booked at the Sumter County Jail and released after posting $1,500 bond.
