A 77-year-old Villager has been arrested on a charge of stalking after allegedly creating a nightmare for her neighbors.
Suza Barr of the Village of Santo Domingo was arrested Wednesday by Sumter County sheriff’s deputies after an investigation into her activities.
Neighbors said they began to be terrorized by Barr after she adopted an “aggressive pit bull mix and let the dog run loose in the neighborhood,” according to an arrest report. The pit bull chased people and bit a neighbor’s dog.
Barr’s fixation appeared to be on a particular husband and wife in the neighborhood. Barr would walk her dog in their backyard and disturb their cats, which were usually in the fully glassed Florida room of the couple’s home.
Barr kept returning to the couple’s home “using foul language” toward them as well as their landscapers. The couple had a trespass warning issued on Oct. 30.
However, the harassment did not end.
Barr allegedly called law enforcement when the couple had a tree removed from their own property, even though they had followed all of the proper procedures.
The St. Louis native’s pit bull was seized by animal control in December, and after the dog was taken away, Barr began shining her vehicle’s headlights into her neighbor’s home and honking her horn when driving by their house. The neighbors said Barr honked the horn because she knew it made their dog nervous, prompting it to bark.
Barr went to a local pharmacy where the wife works and filed two false complaints against her, in an attempt to get her employment terminated. Barr went to the pharmacy this past Sunday afternoon, even though she did not need to have a prescription filled. She began to “yell and harass employees at the pharmacy.” She was asked to leave. The exchange was captured on video surveillance.
Barr also reportedly attempted to get the husband fired from his job.
The couple installed a surveillance system at their home because they were so alarmed by Barr’s behavior. They told a deputy they have “placed their home for sale as they cannot continue to live in continuous emotional distress and fear anymore,” the report said.
Barr purchased her home at 2018 Cordero Court in 2016 for $232,000.
Following her arrest, Barr was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center where she was initially held without bond. On Thursday, her bond was set at $5,000. She posted the bond and was released at 3:26 p.m. Thursday.
