County Common Pleas Judge Jennifer McElfresh set Speaks’ arraignment for Oct. 21. He remains housed in the Butler County Jail on $100,000 bond with a 10 percent rule.
Sarah Little Risner, a pet groomer and owner of the Pink Poodle Boutique in downtown Middletown, was severely beaten during the attack, according to Middletown police.
She suffered a crushed orbital eye socket and a brain bleed, Detective Brook McDonald said in the court complaint. Detectives talked to her briefly after the alleged assault.
Risner was transported to Atrium Medical Center in Middletown, then to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton.
On Thursday, Risner said she has been released from the hospital and is recovering, but is not yet back to work.
She said she was hit in the head and fell on her face, so additional surgery is needed on her nose which is still painful.
Risner said she is working with a speech therapist to regain her normal diction.
“After I woke up from the brain bleed, I spoke this way. People tell me I sound like I have a foreign accent, but I am from Ohio,” Risner said. “Everybody tells me tells me they don’t care how I sound, they are just glad I am talking.”
On Aug. 14, as a Middletown police officer was on patrol about 3:10 p.m. the officer saw a man leave a house in the 3800 block of Central Avenue. As the officer passed, the man called out “hey,” and he stopped.
Risner, 42, was found upstairs semi-conscious with facial injuries. McDonald said Risner said she was beaten with an object and used a knife to protect herself. Speaks was not injured, according to police.
Police detectives said Risner took Speaks in as a favor for a friend. When she wanted him to leave, he allegedly became upset and got physical, police said.
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