Fearful Villagers are begging officials for protection from a scary neighbor.
Residents of the Ashleigh Villas in the Village of Calumet Grove spoke out Friday afternoon before the Community Development District 4 Board of Supervisors meeting at Savannah Center.
Residents said they are being terrorized by 53-year-old Brian Keith Kissinger, who lives at 7571 SE 171st Sun Valley Place.
Kissinger was arrested at his home after setting a fire Sept. 27 to a box containing some kind of trash, according to an arrest report from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies who arrived on the scene were able to put out the fire with a neighbor’s garden hose. They detained Kissinger who had a lighter.
Deputies had staked out the area after a woman who lives in the villa community said Kissinger had been ringing her doorbell and her neighbors’ doorbells then running away. Deputies caught Kissinger ringing her door bell and issued a legal trespass order, barring him from the woman’s home. At about 10 p.m., the deputies heard Kissinger “yelling profanities and breaking glass objects in the street in front of his home,” the arrest report said. They found he had started a “small fire” in the middle of the street in front of his home.
Kissinger was arrested on a charge of disturbing the peace and booked at the Marion County Jail. He was released after posting $2,500 bond.
At the CDD 4 meeting, neighbors alleged that Kissinger is a “hand grenade” ready to go off. They said the arrest is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Kissinger’s scary behavior. Residents said they have resorted to arming themselves with knives and guns. They claim he has spray painted the villa road, which is owned and maintained by the CDD 4 residents.
While supervisors said they have limited power with such a problem, Supervisor Mark Hayes volunteered to meet with residents to discuss the situation. Hayes has a law enforcement background and serves as a liaison between CDD 4 and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Ten days prior to the arrest in the Ashleigh Villas, Kissinger was driving a SUV caught on surveillance “beeping his horn” before backing into a “four by four post” and then a chain link fence at the Eagles Club on County Road 25 in Belleview. The individual who reported the incident said the man in the vehicle, later identified as Kissinger, was “acting bizarre,” according to an arrest report. Kissinger was arrested on a charge of criminal mischief. He spent five days in jail before being bailed out on $1,000 bond.
