A Summerfield man was arrested Wednesday after a woman claimed he carved letters into her arm with a rusty blade while another man helped hold her down.
William Edward Ames, 37, was taken into custody after Marion County deputies spoke with the victim at the Circle K at 14870 U.S. Hwy. 441. He was charged with aggravated battery using a deadly weapon, false imprisonment and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.
According to the victim, who said she was in the process of moving out of Ames’ house, the attack happened when she arrived Wednesday night to gather her belongings. She said a man she didn’t know entered the passenger side of her car and grabbed her right arm, while Ames opened the driver’s side door and held her left arm against her will, a sheriff’s office report states.
The woman told deputies that Ames said, “I want my stuff” before calling her a piece of (expletive deleted) and adding, “I’m going to carve it into your arm.”
The woman said Ames used a rusty blade to carve the letters, P, I and half an E before she got her arm free, the report says, adding that Ames then pulled out a handgun and pointed it at her face, “threatening to kill her if she did not give him back his stuff.”
The woman said she eventually was able to fight her way loose from Ames and the unknown man before quickly driving away from the home.
The woman also told deputies that she ran several red lights while driving at twice the posted speed limit in her effort to get away from Ames and the other man. She added that she pulled into the Circle K parking lot and parked in front of a surveillance camera before calling them.
The deputy noted that while speaking with the woman her hands were visibly shaking. He also noticed the letters carved into her forearm, “which appeared to look red, raised and recent,” the report says.
A witness told deputies he saw the physical altercation and confirmed that Ames grabbed the woman’s arm while they were arguing. But he said he didn’t see Ames threaten her with a handgun or carve the letters into her arm, the report says.
Ames was transported to the Marion County Jail and held without bond. He is scheduled to appear in court July 17.