A woman accused of burglarizing the home of a prominent local businessman says the Lord told her to do it, maintaining she did nothing wrong.
“She said the heavenly father told her to go there,” recalled McMinnville police officer Kenneth Seagraves during a preliminary hearing for Rhonda Cutler.
Police were summoned to the home of local businessman Dean Gillespie by a neighbor who saw Cutler at the house while the homeowner was out of town. Upon arrival, Seagraves said Cutler was coaxed out of the house but became combative when they started to take her into custody.
“She resisted in every form and fashion,” Seagraves testified, saying he and other officers had to wrestle her into the patrol car.
Seagraves said Cutler began to yell and spit on his glass shield from the back seat, noting he saw her licking the shield at one point.
“It almost made me sick,” Seagraves testified.
Public defender Trenena Wilcher pointed out Cutler is a family friend of Gillespie, suggesting she had gone to the residence to check on his well-being. Wilcher pointed out nothing was disturbed in the house, there were no signs of forced entry, and her client had left a note for Gillespie. Prosecutors countered Gillespie had never given her permission to be there.
General Sessions Judge Larry Ross bound Cutler to the grand jury on charges of aggravated criminal trespass and resisting arrest. He dropped her bond to $5,000 but warned her not to go back to Gillespie’s home.
“If you go back to that man’s house, I don’t care if the good Lord told you to or not, you’re going to jail,” said Ross.
It was never revealed exactly what, if anything, Cutler was doing at the house although Seagraves said it appeared she may have been doing some laundry.