LEESBURG, Florida—A man with a history of threatening people is back in the Lake County Jail, this time accused of threatening a man at his former job with a makeshift hatchet.
Leesburg Police responded to a business on Thomas Avenue on a weapons complaint shortly before 9:45 a.m. Monday. The victim told LPD when he arrived at work, he found Preston Wade Greenlee, 50, of Fruitland Park inside the building. Greenlee is a former employee, but had been terminated around 10 years ago, according to the arrest affidavit.
The victim said Greenlee spoke to him, but he kept the conversation minimal due to believing Greenlee was under the influence of drugs; the victim went into the business office and when he came out, Greenlee was outside the side entrance yelling at him.
Greenlee then came back inside and approached the victim aggressively while holding a wooden stick with a blade attached, the affidavit states. Greenlee cursed at the victim and called him the devil and when the victim tried to separate himself from Greenlee, he raised the makeshift hatchet above his head and demanded the victim fight him.
The victim told Greenlee to leave and Greenlee fell to his knees and told the victim he loved him. The victim told Greenlee police were on the way and Greenlee fled the area northbound. A witness and a video corroborated the victim’s statements to police.
Greenlee was taken into custody and arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He is being held in the Lake County Jail on $7,500 bond.
Greenlee was arrested earlier this year in Fruitland Park on the same charge for allegedly yelling religious chants at a pair of brothers and threatening them with a machete. The charge was later dropped.
