Friday, October 15, 1999
Teen fight results in arrest

By MONROE ROARK
Staff Writer

 

A fight over a $5 loan has resulted in one teenager being seriously injured and another arrested, according to police reports.

Jerome Thomas Fochtman, 16, was arrested on aggravated battery charges after the Sept. 30 incident, which saw Tim Vanmeter, 17, receive “permanent disfiguring bodily harm” due to repeated blows on the left side of his face, the police report stated.

Vanmeter had lent Fochtman $5 the week before the fight, the report said, and harsh words had been exchanged over several days when Vanmeter tried to collect on the debt. Vanmeter went to Fochtman's home after school on the day of the incident, and that was when the fight took place, police said.

Vanmeter suffered “a blackened eye and substantial bruising in the area of the eye and right upper jaw area,” reports indicated.

The family initially was unsure about filing charges, fearing a possible backlash against the victim, but then decided to pursue the case, saying that Vanmeter was set up so that he would come to Fochtman's home and could be attacked, police said.


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