PARIS — A Hartford man pleaded guilty Wednesday morning at Oxford County Superior Court to choking a woman when she asked him to replace the toilet paper.
Gary Gross, 68, was arrested Feb. 28, 2015, on charges of aggravated assault, domestic violence assault, domestic violence criminal threatening and violating conditions of release.
Judge Nancy Carlson sentenced Gross, 68, to two years in prison with all suspended, and two years of probation.
As part of a plea agreement, the state dropped all charges except the aggravated assault charge.
Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Winter said that probation conditions included no use or possession of alcohol or illegal drugs, and being subject to random searches and testing.
If the case had gone to trial, Winter said, the state would have called Cpl. Justin Brown of the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office to testify that on Feb. 28, the Oxford County Regional Communications Center received a 911 hang-up call from a Hartford residence.
Upon responding, Brown said that the woman’s neck had red marks consistent with choking.
She said that when she had asked Gross to replace the toilet paper in their bathroom, he became angry and said he was going to “kill her,” and proceeded to choke her.
She attempted to call 911, Brown wrote in his police affidavit, but grew afraid and hung up.
“When Cpl. Brown approached Mr. Gross and asked him if he had laid hands on her, he admitted that he put his hands on her because she was ‘bitching at me about the toilet paper,’” Winter told Carlson.
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