VENTURA : Landlady Beaten; Evicted Tenant Held

A 38-year-old Ventura man was arrested on suspicion of severely beating his landlady who had evicted him.

Raymond Gayle Wagoner, 38, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder at 4:35 p.m. Wednesday after he was located in Glendora, said Sgt. Bob Velez of the Ventura Police Department.

Police said the landlady, Arlys Quinn, 47, evicted Wagoner on Monday from his rental in the 9600 block of Coosa Street in Ventura.

She was aided in the eviction by the Ventura Police Department and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. The Sheriff’s Department often oversees evictions for overdue rent, officials said.

On Wednesday, Wagoner stopped Quinn in a shopping center parking lot and pleaded with her to let him into his former residence so he could retrieve some medicine he had left behind, Velez said.

Wagoner told Quinn that the medicine was essential to his baby, who was ill, and Quinn let him in, Velez said.

Once inside the residence, Wagoner became enraged with Quinn because of the eviction and told her that he was going to kill her, Velez said. Wagoner then struck Quinn with a 2-foot-long iron bar, possibly a fireplace poker, at least a dozen times on the head and body, he said.

Quinn, who was bleeding profusely from her wounds, ran screaming from the house, Velez said.

Witnesses, who helped Quinn, told police that they saw Wagoner walk calmly to his car and drive away.

The police followed leads and discovered Wagoner was in Glendora, where the Glendora Police Department took him into custody, Velez said.

Quinn remains in stable condition in the intensive care unit of Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, a hospital spokeswoman said.