Cops: Elderly stalker tried to pay to hurt ex

THE VILLAGES — Authorities say an elderly man who defaced his ex-girlfriend's house then attacked her when she caught him in the act in early August has been arrested again, this time for trying to hire someone to hurt her and vandalize her home. Derek Britton, 81, of Carbie Drive was arrested Wednesday and charged with conspiring to commit aggravated stalking and violating an injunction for protection, second offense. The arrest came when a tipster called the Lake County Sheriff's Office. Britton was reportedly trying to bail a friend of the tipster's out of jail, then pay the man to vandalize the woman's home with paint, plant narcotics inside the house and steal money and “injure the respondent to the point where the respondent will require stitches,” according to an arrest affidavit. The tipster said Britton provided the name of the his ex-girlfriend’s workplace, an accurate description of her vehicle and her address. He was arrested when he showed up — with $500 and a checkbook in his pocket — to meet with the man, according to the arrest report. Britton was ultimately charged with aggravated stalking, attempted burglary, possession of burglary tools (including a box cutter), criminal mischief and simple battery. In her request for an injunction in July, she said they used to date. She said on June 30, he came to her place of work in Eustis and slipped a note under her windshield wiper. “I wonder where this from, OR where it might go to???” the note said. “A dinner date might STOP it!!!” A judge had issued the order in July requiring Britton to stay away from the woman. On Aug. 22, prosecutors dropped the aggravated stalking charge. The next day, Britton pleaded no-contest to the remainder of the charges and was sentenced to five years' probation. One of the conditions was that he get anger management counseling. Another was that he gets no closer than 500 feet to the woman or her home.