Arson

EUSTIS, Fla.—A couple is in the Lake County Jail, accused of battering each other and police say one of them intentionally set an apartment on fire.

Shortly after 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, Eustis Police Department responded to Crazy Gator, 402 North Bay Street on a report of a domestic battery in progress, according to an arrest affidavit. When they arrived, they found Ashlee Pringle, 35, crying with multiple injuries to her face and neck and she told police her boyfriend, Christopher Walantus, 42, hit her multiple times. She told police the altercation began Monday, and Walantus, under the influence of alcohol and drugs, was using “derogatory words” towards her. She said she left the apartment for the night, located at 623 North Bay Street, and returned Tuesday morning.

She told police when she returned, Walantus was sleeping on the couch, and she went straight to the bedroom. Walantus realized she was home and began smashing her belongings against a wall and dragged her into the living room. He picked her up, threw her to the ground, and put his hand on her head, putting all of his weight on her and said, “it felt like her skull was going to crack,” the affidavit states. According to Lake County Jail online booking records, Walantus is 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 300 pounds, and Pringle is 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 170 pounds.

Pringle, a local realtor, told police she got up and Walantus started hitting her with dishes and throwing items, resulting in holes in the wall. She said gathered her belongings and Walantus kept ripping them from her hands and stomping on them. She told police he took her phone, valued at $1,200 and destroyed multiple items including a television, a curling iron, makeup and a purse, valued at a total of $1,000.

Pringle said she was able to leave, and she grabbed his car keys and left the apartment. She told police he followed her to the parking lot and threw her to the pavement before she ran across Bay Street to Crazy Gator. A neighbor later told police he witnessed the incident in the parking lot.

EPD canvassed the area, found Walantus and took him into custody. He told police Pringle battered him and provided officers with a video that showed “the residence in complete disarray with broken glass covering the floor of the apartment. Within the video (Pringle) is in the kitchen of the apartment, where they are observed arguing. (Walantus) throws a cardboard soda box onto the counter and approaches (Pringle) while recording. He verbally taunts (Pringle) at which point she (is) observed striking him with her hand on his side,” the arresting officer noted in the affidavit.

Walantus told police Pringle left the apartment early Monday morning and took his car without permission and did not return until Tuesday afternoon. He said when Pringle returned, she began yelling and throwing things, striking him in the head with a glass object. He said she broke a television in the living room and a television in the bedroom and threw a “barrage” of glass objects at him, including cups and bowls. He told officers he did not touch Pringle and the “markings and bruising” she had on her body were the result of a previous intimate encounter. Walantus, who is currently on Marion County felony probation, was arrested for domestic battery and criminal mischief and transported to the Lake County Jail, where he is being held on no bond.

Around four hours later, just before 5:30 p.m. EPD responded back to Pendleton Apartments, 623 North Bay Street, on a report of a structure fire and loud explosion in an apartment, later identified as Walantus’ apartment.

A witness who lives near the apartment told EPD she heard a loud explosion and when she looked outside her door, she saw Pringle gathering items and quickly leaving in a grey SUV. She described Pringle’s clothing, and it matched what she was wearing when officers spoke to her earlier in the day, according to a report.

A second witness told police Pringle, and an unidentified female had been moving things out of the apartment for “quite a while” and between 5:15 p.m. and 5:20 p.m. she heard a “huge explosion” come from the apartment and observed a window and sliding glass door blown out. She saw Pringle coming down the stairs, carrying a fan. Pringle told the witness the explosion did not come from the apartment she was coming out of and the witness told her the explosion “did indeed come from (that) apartment,” the report states. Other neighbors came out of their apartments and screamed for Pringle to call 911 and she “quickly darted” to a grey SUV, jumped in the passenger side and the SUV sped off. The witness told police Pringle appeared to be “high” and under the influence of a narcotic.

Eustis Fire Chief Michael Swanson told officers he believed the fire was set intentionally and State Fire Marshal Will Murphy responded to the scene and confirmed the fire was intentional. Swanson told EPD the fire started in the bedroom, and furniture, clothing and electronics also sustained damage. Murphy estimated the total damage to the apartment is approximately $75,000.

Pringle was later located at Oasis Saloon, 23800 State Road 46, Sorrento, by Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies, still wearing the same clothes as described by witnesses at Pendleton Apartments. She was transported to EPD for questioning, and according to a report, she reiterated the story about the domestic violence earlier in the day. She told an EPD detective she found out Walantus was in custody and went to the apartment to pack up her belongings and some of Walantus’ belongings because she did not want them to go missing while he was in jail. She said she was walking downstairs and heard the explosion and she “didn’t want to believe” it came from the apartment and continued to walk to the apartment where her friend was waiting. She said a neighbor told her the explosion came from the apartment, but it was not her apartment, it was Walantus’ apartment, and she decided to leave.

Pringle denied knowing anything about the fire but later said she was filling up lighter fluid she wanted to take with her, and she spilled some on her hand but did not know if any spilled on the floor. She said she did light a lighter, and when asked if she dropped or thew the lighter somewhere near the lighter fluid, she reportedly said she was not sure. She denied starting the fire and said an aerosol can inside the apartment may have exploded but she was unsure about that too.

She denied hitting Walantus and said she was the victim of domestic violence. She refused to answer any more questions and was arrested for arson, domestic battery and criminal mischief. She was transported to LCJ, where she is being held on no bond.

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EUSTIS, Florida—A woman, apparently angry at her grandfather after an argument about money, set her mattress on fire Monday and almost set a vehicle on fire, but changed her mind, she told Eustis Police Department, according to an arrest affidavit.

Shortly before 6 p.m. Monday, EPD and Eustis Fire Department responded to a house fire at 2220 Titcomb Street; the victim told EPD he was sitting on the porch following an argument with granddaughter, Autumn Rose Walker, 22, when she came outside and said, “You’ll remember this,” and ran off down the road, the affidavit states.

The victim looked inside the front door and saw smoke, went around to the back door and saw more smoke, and he rescued his dog and called 9-1-1, according to the affidavit. A witness told officers he saw a white female standing near the rear of a green SUV and she had what appeared to be a white rag and lit it on fire; when he came out of the daycare the home was on fire, the affidavit states.

Another witness told police she saw a woman stumbling down the road and provided a photo she took to police.  

Officers located Walker walking down Orange Avenue near Cricket Hollow Lane several hours later, wearing a long sleeve shirt, black pants and one sock—the sock matched a singed sock found on the scene of the fire, the arresting officer noted in the affidavit.

Walker was uncooperative, refused to answer questions and said she just wanted to sit down on the sidewalk. One officer began to walk down the sidewalk to search for evidence while another officer continued to speak with Walker, and she told the officer she set her mattress on fire, according to the affidavit.

Walker told EPD she was arguing with her grandfather about money and was “frustrated and wanted to escape from him.” She said she set the mattress of fire using a Seneca cigarette because she “did not want to have a place to come back to,” and she felt the only way to stay away from the house was to set the mattress on fire, so she did not have a place to sleep.

She told police when she left her bedroom the mattress was on fire, and she went outside and lit her sock on fire. She said she was going to put it in the gas tank of the SUV but changed her mind and left. Walker said she knew her grandfather was in the house and figured he would put the fire out.

Walker was arrested for domestic arson and upon searching her, police found a blue lighter and a pack of Seneca cigarettes and Walker said that was the lighter she used to torch the mattress. Before she was placed in the back of a patrol vehicle she reportedly exclaimed, “I’m going to kill him!”

Walker was transported to the Lake County Jail, where she is being held on no bond.