LEESBURG, Florida—A 34-time convicted felon has been arrested in a baseball bat attack that sent a man to the hospital in December.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Leesburg Police responded to UF Health Leesburg on Dec. 13 to meet with victim who told them he was in the 2100 block of Harlem Avenue when a man he knew as “Hollywood Swag,” approached him. He said, “Hollywood Swag,” identified several months later as Rodney Lamar Woods, had made numerous attempts to fight him and he was trying to avoid it. The victim started to walk away, and Woods started running towards him with a wooden bat.
Woods, 39, struck him in the arms, legs and back and once the victim was on the ground, Woods said he was going to get a gun and left in a burgundy vehicle, the affidavit states. The victim was covered in dirt in abrasions when police interviewed him.
On Dec. 15, a Leesburg Police detective interviewed witnesses and attempted to identify “Hollywood Swag.” The witnesses, who refused to give their own personal information, said they only knew the man by his nickname. The same day the detective left a message for the victim, but he did not return the call until two months later on Feb. 15. On that day, the victim told police he had recently seen “Hollywood Swag” at a convenience store, and he was able to find out his legal name.
The LPD detective created a photo line-up and the victim immediately identified Woods as the culprit. The victim told police he suffered multiple broken bones in his right arm and required surgery, in addition to multiple fractured ribs.
Woods has been charged with 47 felonies and been convicted of 34 of them, and he has been convicted of nearly two dozen misdemeanors, the detective noted in the affidavit. A warrant was issued for his arrest in this case for aggravated battery with great bodily harm on Feb. 24 and he was jailed Tuesday. He was released from the Lake County Jail on $50,000 bond the same day.
