Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Margarie Brantley, 56, was arrested yesterday morning after allegedly threatening a neighbor with a sword.

Brantley reportedly contacted law enforcement yesterday morning about a disturbance with her upstairs neighbor, saying the neighbor threw something at her door and threatened her.

An Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy responded and spoke with Brantley, who reportedly said her neighbor was walking his dogs without a leash and threw an oxtail at her door. She said she threw the oxtail a few feet away “for the dogs.” The deputy noted that he could see the handle of a sword on a chair inside the doorway of her apartment. Brantley was also reportedly upset about an upcoming court date in a case in which she is charged with damaging the same neighbor’s car with a stick, resulting in an estimated $900 in damages.

The neighbor reportedly told the deputy he was walking his dogs when one of the dogs picked up an oxtail by a dumpster near the apartments. He said there has been an ongoing issue between the two neighbors because Brantley discards food on the ground; he also alleged that she has previously put poison in food scraps in an attempt to poison his dogs.

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The neighbor said he wrestled the oxtail bone out of his dog’s mouth and was in the process of taking the dogs inside his apartment when Brantley came out of her apartment, threw the oxtail bone at him, then advanced toward him, holding a sword and saying she was going to cut him.

The deputy reportedly found the oxtail bone in the middle of the parking lot and went back to Brantley’s apartment and detained her in handcuffs. He said the sword was no longer on the chair where he had previously seen it, but Brantley told another deputy where to find it; it had been concealed behind some plants in her apartment. The sword reportedly matched the description provided by the neighbor.

Post Miranda, Brantley reportedly denied throwing the bone at the victim or threatening him with a sword, but she said she placed the sword near the door when she heard a commotion outside.

Brantley has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She is on pre-trial release in the property damage case and is scheduled for a change of plea on October 25. She was arrested in 1989 on charges of possessing and selling cocaine, but the charges were later dropped. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $50,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.