LAKE COUNTY — Two Kelseyville residents were arrested on charges of elder abuse in separate incidents during the weekend, according to reports from the Lake County Sheriff”s Office (LCSO).
Deputies responded to a 9-1-1 call Friday at approximately 10:50 p.m. from Sylar Lane resident Jill Louise Mainer, 43, who reported her roommate had fallen and then hung up the phone, according to LCSO Captain Jim Bauman.
The roommate, 72-year-old Ivan Neuharth, answered when dispatchers called back. Neuharth said Mainer had ordered him to get on his hands and knees and told him she was going to kill him, according to Bauman. Neuharth did not get down on the floor, and told dispatchers Mainer had left the house with a hammer in her hand.
“When deputies got there, they talked to Neuharth and confirmed that for unknown reasons she had come at him with a hammer. She had ordered him to get on the floor and said she was going to beat him with the hammer,” Bauman said.
Deputies searched the area but didn”t find Mainer until midnight, when one of the deputies who had originally responded checked the home and found lights on. Bauman said the deputy could hear Mainer threatening to assault Neuharth inside the house as he approached. Bauman said the deputy entered, thinking Mainer could still be armed with the hammer, and arrested her without incident.
Neuharth told deputies Mainer had returned and disconnected the telephone so he could not use it to call for help.
Mainer was booked at the Lake County Jail on felony charges of making criminal threats, disrupting a telephone line and elder abuse. Bauman said Mainer is not believed to have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and the reason for her behavior is unknown. She is held on $10,000 bail.
Responding to a request for a Monday morning request for a welfare check from the daughter of Kelseyville resident Antonietta Lehmann, 66, deputies arrested Lehmann”s son on a misdemeanor battery charge and a felony elder abuse charge.
Lehmann”s son, William James Waldon, 45, was acting as her caregiver, according to Bauman. He said Lehmann had reported yelling at her son for the way he drove in the rain on the way back from a doctor”s appointment on the afternoon of Feb. 6. Bauman said Lehmann suffered bruising and swelling after her son allegedly became angry and slammed her against a wall when they got home.
Afraid for her safety, Lehmann decided to pursue charges against her son, according to Bauman. Waldon was arrested pursuant to a private citizen”s arrest. Bauman said there is no limit on reporting elder abuse, which is always charged as a felony during an arrest and booking.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636 ext. 37.
