Charlotte County Sheriff's deputies arrested a Punta Gorda man Monday for beating, strangling, stomping, threatening with a butcher knife, torturing and imprisoning his girlfriend in their Punta Gorda trailer.
Albert Lee Thomas, 41, 2754 Bailey Ave., is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, domestic battery by strangulation and false imprisonment.
He remains in the Charlotte County Jail on no bond.
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Albert Lee Thomas
CCSO received a call from a Charlotte Regional Medical Center ER nurse at 9:30 p.m. after a woman who said she was beaten by a boyfriend she had been dating a couple months. She told deputies she was tortured for hours because Thomas got angry with her when she came home at 10 a.m. Monday.
She said he threw her on the floor, stomped on her chest a couple times with his boots and she heard her chest "pop" and had trouble breathing. She said Thomas wanted to have sex with her and she refused.
He then strangled her, punched her in eye and grabbed a butcher knife. She said he stood over her while she was on her back in bed and stabbed the mattress twice by her head.
He then allegedly put the knife down, and tied her arms and legs behind her backs stuffed tissues in her mouth and tied a bandana around her head so she couldn't yell for help.
Thomas later untied her hands and left the trailer. He used a lock on the outside of the trailer to lock her inside; however, the victim was able to escape and get to the nearby hospital.
While the deputy was speaking to the victim at the hospital, Thomas walked into her room and said he wanted to speak to his girlfriend. Thomas was placed under arrest and transported to the Charlotte County Jail.
