CAPE CORAL, Fla. — A dispute over dog poop in one southeast Cape Coral neighborhood led to the arrest of a woman for simple battery.
Jennifer Hays was given a criminal citation Tuesday night, accused of hitting the phone in her neighbor’s hand, as they recorded her.
The interaction happened on Southeast 10th Avenue Tuesday night around 7 p.m. But, Sara Warnecke said the issue goes back three weeks when she and her neighbors began to notice piles of poop in their yards that didn’t belong to their own dogs.
Warnecke believed most of the piles are from Hays. She explained she and her son witnessed Hays walk a poodle down their street without a leash. After it allegedly relieved itself on Warnecke’s property, Hays kept walking.
When Warnecke approached her, “she told us she did not intend to pick it up. She told us it disappears in a day and it’s fertilizer.” She said, “I told her that I’d follow her home so that I know where you live and we can report it to code enforcement.”
Tuesday night, things quickly escalated. Warnecke said her neighbor witnessed Hays do it again. The two offered Hays a Walmart plastic bag but claimed that Hays threw it back at them.
Warnecke said after Hays took photos of her license plates, Warnecke took photos of Hays. Cape Coral Police believe those images and a third-party witness statement was enough to charge Hays with simple battery. She received a mandatory notice to appear but was not booked in jail.
Hays’ neighbor told NBC2 she denies those allegations and believes the neighbors are stalking and harassing her.