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Husband accuses wife, is arrested

He wrote a letter that warns of a plot to kill him and signed it in her name, authorities say.

By ABBIE VANSICKLE
Published July 16, 2005

INVERNESS - Joseph S. Sullivan showed up at the Citrus County Sheriff's Office to talk with investigators after he accused his wife trying to kill him by slicing off part of his penis.

But it was Sullivan, not his wife, who left the meeting in handcuffs.

Sullivan, 34, of 7819 W Glendale Court in DeRosa, was arrested Wednesday on charges of fabricating physical evidence. Authorities say he, not his wife, wrote a letter to Sheriff Jeff Dawsy about the alleged plot to kill.

The letter said Sullivan's wife planned to kill Sullivan on Friday in "the same way I killed Jessica Lunsford."

"If I were you, I'd protect him before I get there," the letter to Dawsy said.

When investigators questioned Sullivan about the letter, he said he wrote it himself, signed his wife's name and mailed it to Dawsy.

But Sullivan said there's one thing he didn't make up: His wife really did chop off the tip of his private part with a sharp object, he told investigators.

There was no indication in the arrest report that investigators were able to prove or disprove that claim.

But "due to credibility issues with the defendant, detectives question whether the incident reported by the defendant occurred as he stated," according to sheriff's spokeswoman Gail Tierney.

Sullivan's wife, whose name was not listed in the report, is not facing any charges.

Sullivan told investigators he and his wife were in a custody battle over their 2-year-old daughter. On June 10, he filed a report with the Sheriff's Office about the incident. He told investigators that about a month before, his wife and a unknown man took him into the woods. The man raped him and then his wife sliced him while he lay on the ground, he told investigators.

His wife was trying to make him bleed to death, he said, because she had taken out a $350,000 life insurance policy.

Sullivan told investigators he faked the letter because he was trying to draw attention to his wife, who was suffering from a mental illness and needed help, according to the report.

Sullivan was taken to the Citrus County jail, where bail was set at $2,000. He remained at the jail Friday evening.

Abbie VanSickle can be reached at 860-7312 or vansickle@sptimes.com

[Last modified July 16, 2005, 00:24:14]