Butler Twp. man accused of assaulting his girlfriend
BUTLER TWP — A township man was arrested Saturday after he allegedly attacked his girlfriend during a domestic dispute at their apartment on Fincher Lane.
It's not the first time Bruce L. Stennett, 30, has been accused of the crime.
Butler Township police arrested him three-and-a-half months earlier on charges that he assaulted the same 36-year-old woman.
Stennett is being held in the Butler County Prison following the most recent altercation.
Police said they were called to the home for a disturbance and saw Stennett through a front window straddling the victim on a couch. He refused to allow officers inside, according to court documents.
But when they heard the victim call for help, police said, officers forced their way inside. The apartment was “in complete disarray,” documents said, with pieces of broken glass, a busted lamp, food strewn about and shaving cream on the carpet.
The woman told officers that when she returned home Saturday night she found Stennett on the couch drinking vodka. He started “flipping out,” documents said, and destroying the apartment.
She said he choked and struck her a few times. Police noted she had redness around her neck and a bruise on the corner of her mouth.
Police took the defendant to the station, where they say he urinated on the floor of a holding cell.
District Judge Sue Haggerty arraigned Stennett on charges of simple assault, harassment, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief.
She set his bail at $25,000. She also revoked his $10,000 bail in the prior domestic violence case.
In that earlier incident, Stennett is accused of grabbing his girlfriend and throwing her on the couch at their home. Police said he covered her mouth with one hand and twisted her neck with the other.
She told officers that he also slapped her three times on the face.
“The slaps were so hard,” documents said, “that they damaged her hearing aid and damaged her glasses.”
Stennett was placed in the county prison on charges of terroristic threats, unlawful restraint, simple assault, harassment and public drunkenness.
Those charges are pending in Butler County Court.
He got out of jail Jan. 24 when his $10,000 bail was changed to a recognizance bond. He was placed on pretrial supervision with several conditions.
