An 83-year-old Villager is nearing the date of his release from a Florida prison after serving a sentence resulting from violence toward his girlfriend.
Derek Britton, of the Village of Santiago, is due for release on Jan. 6, according to the Florida Department of Corrections. He began serving his prison sentence on May 7, 2019.
He originally had been arrested in August 2018 after he donned a ski mask and attempted to vandalize the home of his estranged girlfriend in Clermont. She received an alert on her security system and went outside, where she confronted the intruder. They fell to the ground during a struggle, the ski mask came off and she discovered that it was Britton.
While the native of Ireland was free on $30,000 bond, he set up a rendezvous with the lady friend of an inmate he had met during his stay at the Lake County Jail. Britton thought he had arranged to give the woman $600 to pay the inmate’s bond. Once released, the inmate was to go and injure Britton’s ex-girlfriend at her home in Clermont. The inmate’s lady friend reached out to law enforcement, leading to the arrest of Britton at the site of their pre-arranged meeting at Cracker Barrel in Leesburg. He was arrested Aug. 29, 2018 and booked without bond on a charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated stalking.
His attorney argued that his client was old and frail and should be released. His argument gained no traction with the judge. Britton’s attorney later tried to argue that his client was mentally incompetent to stand trial. The judge was not persuaded.
Britton was sentenced to 34 months in prison. He was given credit for 249 days already served in jail.
DOC records indicate that upon his release, Britton will be “homeless” in Lake County. However, Britton still owns his home at 2548 Caribe Drive in The Villages, according to records with the Sumter County Property Appraiser’s office.
