A Villager told police she was fearful of her husband’s release from jail after a domestic attack at their home.
The woman from the Village of Country Club Hills went Monday to the The Villages Public Safety Department fire station on Paradise Drive on the Historic Side of The Villages where she met with a police officer to report the attack, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department.
The 70-year-old woman said she and her husband, 73-year-old Steve Weherley, had been arguing Saturday at their home. She tried to exit the home and go out onto the carport. However, Weherley, who stands 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds, grabbed her right wrist and forced her back into the home. She later tried to leave in the golf cart, but her husband of 10 years grabbed her neck and throat, again preventing her from leaving the residence. She eventually fled to a friend’s home. She deliberately left behind her phone so her husband could not track her.
When the woman met with police on Monday, she described a pattern of violence that began when they lived in Tennessee, where he had been arrested. She said she had been hesitant to call law enforcement because she has feared the possible retaliation she would face when her husband was released from jail. Police photographed bruises on the woman’s neck. She noted that a necklace had been broken off her neck during the attack two days earlier.
Police arrested Weherley at his home on felony charge of battery on a person over the age of 65. He was booked at the Lake County Jail and released after posting $5,000 bond.