A 70-year-old Village of Tall Trees man has been sentenced in a case in which he tormented his on-again-off-again girlfriend who was battling cancer.
Carl Rittenhouse, who lives on Wilkinson Way, was arrested last year by Sumter County sheriff’s deputies after he allegedly entered the woman’s home, also in the Village of Tall Trees. Once inside the home, he began punching the woman and took her hairpiece. In a later incident, Rittenhouse had gotten into her vehicle while it was parked at the Waterfront Inn at Lake Sumter Landing. When she returned to her vehicle, Rittenhouse took her hairpiece and left the scene. The woman was going through chemotherapy and had no hair. You can read more about the case HERE.
Rittenhouse’s attorney, Donald Robert West, was able to negotiate a deal in which two trespassing charges and a charge of petit theft were dropped while Rittenhouse pleaded no contest last week to a charge of battery.
He was sentenced to two years probation.
Rittenhouse had been arrested in April 2014 on a charge of battery after an altercation with the same woman in the Village of Tall Trees. He was placed on one year’s probation, but Rittenhouse’s attorney was able to persuade the judge to terminate the probation early. It was terminated on Jan. 27, 2015.
Rittenhouse was arrested in 2007 and 2011 on charges of driving under the influence. Each time he was sentenced to probation.
In December 2014, he was cited for parking in a handicapped spot. He was fined $186.
