Jeffrey Richards, a 55-year-old Michigan man, has been jailed after he allegedly beat and strangled a woman because she refused to have a relationship with him.
Richards and the victim became friends after attending a court ordered anger management class together.
According to police, Richards and the 52-year-old victim were attending a court ordered anger management class together when a friendship sparked between them.
Investigators say the couple had been friends for a couple of months and had begun having sleeping together when Richards expressed that he wanted to be in a committed relationship with her.
When the woman told Richards that she wasn't ready for that kind of relationship, Richards became angry.
That's when he allegedly became violent towards the woman until she lost consciousness.
When the woman regained consciousness, she reportedly hugged Richards and told him that she cared about him in an effort to calm him back down.
When Richards let the woman get to her feet, she reportedly made a mad dash for the door and fled the scene.
Richards, who remained at his apartment, was arrested a short time later.
Richards was initially booked into jail and charged with second-offense domestic violence.
Those charges have since been upgraded to assault by strangulation, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
In July of this year, Richards was sentenced to probation and ordered to attend an anger management class after he was convicted of domestic violence.
- WV
0