Inset: Pedro Custodio (Lake County Jail). Background: Group home in Umatilla, Florida, where Custodio allegedly assaulted a 77-year-old woman (WESH).
The operator of a Florida group home was arrested for allegedly assaulting a 77-year-old woman after he became enraged because he felt she was “talking excessively.”
Pedro Custodio stands accused of battery on a person 65 or older, court records say. A probable cause arrest affidavit said the Lake County Sheriff”s Office responded to the group home in Umatilla on July 8 after the victim called to make a complaint against Custodio, who lives at and operates the residence.
The woman told police she lived in the halfway house with multiple people, the affidavit says.
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Per the complaint, the victim said on July 2 she was talking with Custodio in his bedroom when he “became upset with her for talking excessively.” Custodio allegedly “became angry” and grabbed the victim by her thigh before “forcefully pushing” her down to the floor. She showed deputies a bruise on her upper left thigh she allegedly sustained at the hands of Custodio, the affidavit says.
The victim also detailed another alleged incident that occurred after she told Custodio she needed to take a shower. She began gathering her things, but Custodio got mad and pushed her to the ground because she “was not moving fast enough,” the affidavit said.
Cops arrested Custodio and took him to the Lake County Jail where he has since posted a $10,000 bond. He pleaded not guilty on Monday. His next court date is scheduled for Aug. 4. He did not have a lawyer listed in court documents.
More from Law&Crime: ‘Bed was littered with leaves’: Caregiver forced elderly woman to live in filthy home with ‘2-3 inch roaches,’ cats, feces and other ‘extremely hazardous’ conditions, cops say
Custodio, known as Pastor Pete, has found himself in legal hot water before. A decade ago, he was found not guilty of sexually battering a woman at his homeless shelter, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
In 2022, he was accused of throwing a box cutter at a man through a car window, according to local NBC affiliate WESH. In that case, he was convicted and sentenced to probation.
