A 67-year-old Wildwood man has been jailed after allegedly attempting to use a pickup to run over a convicted sex offender.
William Harold Bailey went to the sex offender’s residence on County Road 121 shortly before noon Thursday and “aggressively” confronted the sex offender, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. He allegedly took a swing at the sex offender, who was not identified in the report.
Bailey got into his tan pickup truck and attempted to strike the sex offender, with whom Bailey has had “numerous civil issues with,” the report noted. Bailey fled the scene prior to the arrival of law enforcement.
A deputy investigating the incident found tire tracks throughout the yard at the sex offender’s residence.
“The tracks indicate the vehicle was accelerated in a manner to travel onto the concrete porch in front of the victim’s residence where the victim was initially standing, before turning to the right and traveling off of the concrete porch,” the deputy wrote in the arrest report.
Two witnesses backed up the sex offender’s version of what had happened.
While the deputy was still on the scene, Bailey returned to the property riding a lawn mower. Bailey expressed his “extreme dislike” of the sex offender and said he “should be strung up in a tree and cut open.”
Bailey was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault. While he was being taken into custody, he complained of chest pains and was transported to UF Health-The Villages Hospital. Once he was medically cleared, he was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center. Bond was set at $2,500.
