Landlord gets probation after renter asks for leniency

Staff report

BROOKFIELD

The man whose landlord, Vonda Duffy, 80, came into his Bazetta Township home holding a gun and threatening him Aug. 5 asked that Duffy not get jail time because of her age.

As a result, prosecutors allowed Duffy to plead no contest to misdemeanor aggravated menacing Thursday in Eastern District Court and she was sentenced to probation.

Gabe Wildman, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, said Duffy will have to undergo a mental-health evaluation and meet other requirements.

Duffy, of Durst Clagg Road, initially was charged with aggravated burglary after she admitted to police she went to her renter’s trailer next door to her home Aug. 5 with a gun and told him to “get out.”

She acknowledged she told the renter, “I’d like to shoot you,” police said.

She told an officer she didn’t think it was a crime because the home belongs to her, but the officer explained the property is also his until he leaves.

Read more about the case in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.