LEESBURG, Fla. – A Leesburg man swung a hidden sword he pulled from his cane at a woman who said she was legally renting the space from him, according to officials from the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Steven McLain, 78, was arrested Thursday and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
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Officials said McLain had contacted the Sheriff's Office Wednesday in an attempt to have deputies forcibly remove a tenant from his home. They told him to begin evicting the tenant the proper way because she was a legal resident in the space.
Deputies said Thursday they were then called to the home on the 30000 block of Lee Avenue on a trespassing complaint. When deputies arrived, McLain told them a woman was both trespassing and damaging his home by living in it, according to McLain's arrest report. The report states McLain could not show deputies any damage in the home.
Authorities said they then found the woman who McLain accused of trespassing on a street less than two blocks away. They said she was "shaken and crying." The woman said she was legally renting the space from McLain, but for two days in a row, he had called authorities to remove her from the home, according to deputies.
The report states that the victim fled the home after McLain pulled out a previously hidden sword from his cane, began "wildly swinging it at her" and yelled "get out." Authorities said a witness who was there during the incident corroborated the story.
McLain later admitted he had swung the sword at the victim in order to get her "out of his house" because she was not willing to leave, deputies said.
McLain is being held at the Lake County Jail on $2,000 bond. Deputies collected the cane with the hidden sword as evidence.