A Bloomfield man is in custody, accused of strangulation and battery while carrying a red gas can around and threatening to burn the house down.  

Allen Dwight Hobbs, 28, Bloomfield, was arrested yesterday morning, Wednesday, July 1, on a warrant that was issued in early June in a case involving a domestic altercation that was investigated by Deputy Zachary Goad of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department.

The altercation occurred in mid-May. Deputy Goad was dispatched around 12:42 a.m. on Monday, May 11 to a residence on East McCullough Lane, Bloomfield, after a woman called dispatch and said her neighbor was at her house saying Hobbs was threatening her. Dispatch was also told Hobbs was in an altercation with a second woman, and that he was carrying around a can of gasoline.

Deputy Goad responded along with Deputy Davis Aerne. When they arrived, Hobbs had left the area. They talked to two women who described an altercation with Hobbs in which he allegedly became destructive and had turned stove burners on and was going to pour gas on them. He allegedly had threatened to burn the house down and was carrying a can of gasoline around with him. One woman said she kept trying to turn the burners off but Hobbs would turn them right back on.

During a physical altercation trying to prevent him from starting a fire, Hobbs allegedly took one woman to the ground and used his thumbs to put pressure on her throat, and went after the other woman while she was holding a child.

After interviewing the two women, the deputies attempted to locate Hobbs, without success. They did locate a red can of gasoline next to a lighter and an extendable baton at the residence.

A criminal case was filed against Hobbs and a warrant issued for his arrest on June 5. When he was booked in to jail yesterday, his bond was set at $9,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. However, he’s being held without bond in a different case with a petition to revoke a suspended sentence for felony operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

In the newest case, Hobbs is facing preliminary charges of:

• Strangulation, a Level 6 felony,

• Domestic battery with a prior conviction, a Level 6 felony, and

• Battery resulting in bodily injury, a Class A misdemeanor.

The date for his initial hearing has not yet been set.