A woman who bought a bus ticket to bring a Texas man to Wisconsin says he attacked her.
Richard D. Epley, 48, Ingram, Texas, is charged in Waupaca County Circuit Court with felony strangulation and suffocation, misdemeanor battery, criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct as acts of domestic abuse.
On Jan. 12, New London police officers were dispatched to an apartment on the 700 block of Wolf River Avenue.
According to the criminal complaint, dispatch received a 911 call and heard a woman in the background screaming, “Get away from me!”
The call was suddenly disconnected.
When dispatch called back, a woman reported domestic violence.
New London Police Officer Ryan Denu spoke with the woman. She said her boyfriend, Epley, had been drinking vodka when he went into her bedroom and asked for sex.
The woman said no, but Epley allegedly tried lying on top of her.
She grabbed a bat to protect herself. Epley took it away and walked out of the bedroom, the complaint says.
The woman told Denu that Epley returned, covered her mouth with his hand and then placed his hands on her throat and choked her.
She accused Epley of hitting her with the TV remote control, tearing her nightgown and threatening to kill her if she told anyone.
She said she pushed Epley off the bed, and he hit his head on a bookshelf.
Epley allegedly walked out of the room, and she called 911.
Police say he returned, took her phone and threw it against the wall, breaking it.
Dispatch called her back over her landline.
The woman said she met Epley through a friend ,and she bought a bus ticket so he could come to Wisconsin from Texas. He had lived with her for a few weeks prior to the incident.
Epley told New London Police Sgt. Todd Sarazin the woman threw the remote at him, causing the injury above his eye.
Then he said she slapped him, and then he said he was uncertain whether she hit him with her fist or with the remote, according to the complaint.
Epley is currently in custody on a $1,000 cash bond.