An investigation by the Department of Children and Families has led to the arrest of a native of Guatemala who allegedly threatened to kill his wife and bury her under their trailer.
The wife of 36-year-old Antonio Rojas Mendoza urged her child to tell her teacher about the ongoing abuse she was facing at their home in Lady Lake, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department. The report indicated there are four children living in the home, ages 11, 7, 4 and a two-month-old baby. The child reported the abuse, triggering the investigation.
Rojas Mendoza, who is not a United States citizen, had been drinking with his friends on Nov. 3 when he came home and “got angry.” He locked himself in a bedroom with the two-month-old. The mother was worried and began banging on the door. Rojas Mendoza opened the door, grabbed his wife and threw her onto a bed. He tried to hit her with an open hand, the report said. She grabbed the baby, got away and locked herself in her daughter’s room.
The wife told police that she is “fearful” of her husband when he drinks. She said he has threatened to “kill her and bury her under the trailer.”
Rojas Mendoza was arrested Nov. 6 on a charge of domestic battery. He was booked at the Lake County Jail and released after posting $1,000 bond.
