A Villager arrested twice last year in attacks on his wife has moved back into their home.
Robert J. Schaeffer, 66, had been barred from his home in the Haciendas of Mission Hills following his arrest in November on charges of battery and resisting arrest. After he was freed from the Sumter County Detention Center on $3,000 bond, he checked into the Hampton Inn in The Villages.
Now Schaeffer is back in the home at 690 Avecilla Drive and his wife has moved to an undisclosed location, according to court documents on file in Sumter County Court.
Schaeffer’s first arrest came in August. Schaeffer and his wife had been arguing when he “grabbed her by the throat and told her they were both going to die tonight,” according to an arrest report. He tried to force her into a car. She was able to break free after she kneed him in the groin. A deputy who examined her found bruises on her body, including some that were a week old, the arrest report indicated.
State Attorney Brad King on Sept. 18 announced that charges of false imprisonment and domestic battery by strangulation against Schaeffer were being dismissed due to “victim/witness issues.”
Deputies returned to the Schaeffers’ home on Nov. 9 after a neighbor reported hearing a loud argument at the home. When a deputy approached the home and rang the door bell, he observed through the glass door that Schaeffer was pushing his wife. The deputy entered the home and separated the couple. Schaeffer claimed his wife bit him. He also refused to put his hands behind his back when deputies tried to handcuff him.
Schaeffer’s wife of 49 years, in a handwritten note to the court, said she does not want to see her husband prosecuted.
“I am not afraid,” she added.
The Schaeffers bought their home in the Haciendas of Mission Hills one year ago for $565,000.