An 87-year-old Villager was arrested after he allegedly attacked a woman with dementia at a postal station.
A 911 caller reported at about 5 p.m. Tuesday that a man later identified as Sidney Soclof “was actively hitting” a woman in the passenger seat of a vehicle at the Summerhill Postal Station, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
A deputy arrived at the postal station and saw Soclof “swinging at something inside the vehicle.” The deputy ran over and put the Cleveland, Ohio native in handcuffs.
The 82-year-old woman’s hands had been bound with plastic string. She was covered in food, with lettuce and tomato on her clothes and mustard smeared all on the right side of her face. There was “sandwich food thrown all throughout the vehicle” and “food smear marks on the front passenger window.” The deputy concluded the woman had been banging on the window. The deputy found the woman had “cognitive mental issues” and later confirmed she suffers from dementia.
The heavily redacted arrest report did not provide an explanation of Soclof’s connection to the woman. He is the sole owner of his home in The Villages and his Facebook page indicates he is “widowed.”
Soclof, who has owned his home in the Village of Summerhill since 2016, has taught at The Enrichment Academy in The Villages. His courses have included music appreciation, history and a course entitled “The Making of the Modern World” in which he takes on the challenges of pollution and climate change. He is a professor emeritus at the California State University in Los Angeles, according to his biography on the Amazon book site. His biography also indicates he spent 12 years giving “destination and general interest lectures” on cruise ships all over the world.
He was arrested on felony charges of battery and false imprisonment. He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center and released after posting $1,000 bond.
