A Lady Lake man has been charged with pressuring his girlfriend to change her story about domestic abuse and free him from jail.
Tommy Jason Zenker, 41, was arrested Wednesday on charges of tampering with a witness/victim and violation of a conditional release. He was booked on $10,000 bond at the Sumter County Detention Center.
Zenker originally was arrested Dec. 23 on charges of domestic battery and possession of marijuana after neighbors called law enforcement when they overhead an argument in the backyard of a home occupied by Zenker, his lady friend and her adult children. The argument was sparked when the girlfriend tried to take a set of keys away from Zenker because she did not want him driving drunk.
While he was behind bars on Christmas Day, the Kalamazoo, Mich. native spoke on the phone with the girlfriend. He urged her to contact the prosecutor’s office and change her story. He coached the woman to say that “maybe it was a mistake or accident or that someone tripped.” Zenker spoke on the phone with the woman again Dec. 26, 27 and 28 and continued to press her to call the prosecutor’s office and change her story. Zenker was desperate to get his bond reduced and be freed from jail. When he originally appeared before a judge on Christmas Eve, Zenker had been warned that he could not have contact with the woman. During the recorded phone calls from jail, Zenker acknowledged he was aware he could “get in trouble” for speaking to her. Zenker was released from jail on Jan. 10 after posting $16,000 bond.