NEW PORT RICHEY - A 47-year-old Tarpon Springs man was arrested Wednesday, accused of choking a woman and threatening to rape and kill her.
The woman told a detective she had once had a relationship with Joseph Oliver Dean. She said he came into her home Aug. 20 and grabbed her from behind, according to a Pasco Sheriff's Office report.
She said Dean told her he had nothing to live for and that he was going to rape her, then kill her, according to the report. She said he tied her hands with a belt, dragged her to a bedroom and choked her with his hands.
The woman said she persuaded Dean to let her take a shower, and then escaped from a bathroom window and ran to a neighbor's home, according to the report.
Dean, of East Oakwood Street, denied the accusations. He was being held in the county jail Thursday evening in lieu of $155,000 bail. He faces charges of burglary battery and false imprisonment.
