A 37-year-old man is accused of beating his grandmother for not buying him cigarettes, then refusing to let her get help, police said.
With a busted lip and bruises on both her arms and hands, Lois Brownlee, 87, told Gwinnett County police she was able to escape her home while her grandson, Roger Thomas Dean, was sleeping, according to an incident report obtained by the AJC.
Dean was arrested and booked into the Gwinnett County jail, where he was being held Thursday without bond. He faces battery, false imprisonment and interference with a call for emergency assistance charges, jail records show.
Brownlee told police her grandson, whom she raised, moved himself and his girlfriend into her Buford home several weeks ago without invitation. On June 7, Brownlee said she left her home to visit a family member and "calm her nerves due to her grandson running his mouth," the police report states.
When she returned home that night, Dean was angry with her for not having any cigarettes, which she had been furnishing, and he yelled at her while pulling her hair, according to the report.
Brownlee told Dean and his girlfriend she did not want them to move their belongings into her home and when he refused to listen, she threatened to call police.
"‘No calling the police,'" Brownlee told police Dean said. "‘If you call the police, I will fix you the way you have never been fixed before.'"
Dean then allegedly twisted his grandmother's hand, causing extreme pain to a wrist that had previously been broken three times.
Two days later, when a carload of visitors showed up to visit Dean, Brownlee said she told them they were not welcome at her home. When Dean came outside and yelled at her, Brownlee went inside to call 911, but her grandson was ripping the wires out of her phone, police said.
Brownlee told police she stayed in her bathroom the remainder of the night until Dean was asleep. Then, she left her home, drove to her sister's house and then to a police station.
Gwinnett County officers executed a search warrant at Brownlee's home and took Dean into custody. Dean told officers his grandmother fell a lot and that he did not injure her, police said.
Dean has an extensive criminal history, which includes four prior sentences in state prison, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. He was on probation at the time of his recent arrest.
While a Gwinnett County prisoner in 2006, Dean escaped from work detail by stealing a City of Lilburn truck after an employee left the keys inside. Dean later stole another vehicle from Snellville before being captured about 15 hours later.
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