[PHOTO CREDIT: Lake County Sheriff’s Office]
[Original Publish Date: 05/07/21]
EUSTIS, Florida — A man who threatened the lives of several police officers and said he planned to “cut the baby out” of the pregnant woman he is accused of battering is in the Lake County Jail being held on $22,000 bond.
Eustis Police officers responded to Royal Inn Motel, 1414 South Bay Street just after 5 a.m. Saturday in reference to a verbal altercation in the parking lot. Upon arrival, a woman told the officers her boyfriend of four months, Anthony Carl Montgomery, 41, “flipped out on her” when she asked where her phone was, according to an arrest affidavit.
The woman said Montgomery pushed her down on a bed and choked her and she was to get away when he eventually let her go. She said Montgomery grabbed a machete he is known to carry and threatened to kill her. She said Montgomery swung the machete at her, cutting her shirt and she grabbed the blade and was able to get it away from him. Officers noted a small cut on her hand.
The victim then ran towards the office and asked the owner to call the police. Montgomery approached the victim in the parking lot and took the machete from her and went back to the room they were sharing as police arrived. Montgomery locked the door and refused to come out and officers could see him through the window with the machete in his hand. He eventually put the machete down as EPD made entry into the room and took him into custody.
Montgomery made multiple threats to the officers on scene and on the way to the Lake County Jail made “multiple detailed threats on how he wants to kill the officers. While at the jail, Montgomery said he “plans on cutting the baby out of [the victim]” when he gets out of jail.
The victim, who was transported to AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares, told police Montgomery knows she is pregnant, but he is not the father, the affidavit states.
In 2017, Montgomery was charged with battery on a corrections officer and the attempted murder of a corrections officer after trying to throw a detention deputy over a second-floor railing at LCJ. The attempted murder charge was dropped, and he pleaded guilty to the battery charge. He was sentenced to 11 months, 29 days in the same jail.
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Our Editor-in-Chief, Marilyn M. Aciego, began writing for Lake Legal News in 2010. Born and raised in Lake County, she is a graduate of Umatilla High School and Lake-Sumter State College. She started her journalism career at LSSC, where she was editor of both student publications, The Angler and The Odyssey. Her professional career began at the Daily Commercial in 2004 where she covered cops and courts the majority of her time there until she left in 2009. Currently, along with being Editor-in-Chief of Lake Legal News, she is the Florida bureau chief for an international media organization. She has made more than two dozen appearances on live national television, including Nancy Grace and the Greta Van Susteren show, along with her appearance on Evil Twins. Contact her with breaking news, tips, and feedback by sending an e-mail to 352Tips@gmail.com. You can also contact us on our Facebook page — and make sure you “Like” and “Follow us” there. [PHOTO CREDIT: Bonnie Whicher]
