A man making recent headlines after a series of arrests is now charged with punching his mother after eating at a restaurant in The Villages.
Scott Robert Kerster, 45, also known as “Scott Fudge,” is accused of attacking his mother this past July after they left the Beef O’Brady’s restaurant at Mulberry Grove Plaza.
The arrest report indicated the incident in Marion County came to light when Kerster was being interviewed after a recent arrest in Sumter County. Sumter County deputies forwarded the information to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office which performed its own investigation.
She told Kerster to remain at the restaurant while she gassed up her car at the nearby Circle K. While she was at Circle K, Kerster approached her and struck her twice in the jaw. A Villager witnessed the attack and was later interviewed by deputies. An arrest warrant was issued and Kerster was taken into custody on Friday by Sumter County sheriff’s deputies. He was transferred Saturday to the Marion County Jail.
Kerster had been arrested last month after taking an Uber to a Winn-Dixie in The Villages in violation of his community control sentence which requires him to remain at home. He lives with his mother at the Lake Sumter Reserve Senior Apartments at County Road 466 and Cherry Lake Road.
He was released Feb. 27 to his mother, a former resident of the Village of Chatham, after a judge agreed to free Kerster on his own recognizance. He had been jailed on a probation violation Feb. 23 after he was taken into custody by Sumter County sheriff’s deputies at the apartment.
Kerster had been arrested after his mother had been taken by ambulance Feb. 9 from the apartment complex. A neighbor went to the hospital to check on the mother and was surprised that Kerster was not there with her. Instead of accompanying her to the hospital, Kerster called an Uber and went to the grocery store.
In addition to the Feb. 9 food run to Winn-Dixie, Kerster had his mother call a cab on Feb. 16 to take him to Publix and he was gone for more than two hours, according to a violation report on file in Marion County Court.
“Scott goes out shopping and to restaurants often. Scott pressures his mom to take him out to eat and to shop,” a neighbor told Kerster’s probation officer.
The officer went to Kerster’s apartment on Feb. 18 and was met at the door by his mother. She said her son went to fill up her car with gas and to purchase food. It was apparently after the Feb. 18 visit that the probation officer sought the warrant for Kerster’s arrest.
Kerster was placed on community control after his conviction in a 2020 incident in which he stole money from a tip jar at Little Joey’s Italian Restaurant at Baylee Plaza in Summerfield.
At the time, he already had multiple convictions for grand theft, theft and burglary.