Man jailed for assaulting his mother

PALMER -- A 20-year-old Houston man was arrested last week after he allegedly "went crazy" and attacked his mother in her home, Alaska State Troopers said.

Joshua Lerner was charged with fourth-degree domestic violence assault and second-degree criminal trespass, troopers said. He was lodged in Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on $2,500 bail.

Trouble began the morning Nov. 20 when Lerner took his 2-year-old daughter to Lerner's mother's house at Mile 57.5 Parks Highway.

"Lerner started yelling, screaming, and threatening Parker, in front of his daughter," according to charging documents. The woman asked him several times to leave but he refused, documents said, and "Lerner became so upset he started slamming his fist into the walls, knocking pictures, decorations, etc., from the wall.

"At one point [the mother] was on a couch near Lerner, who was lying on another couch, and Lerner kicked [her] in the hand while she was holding an ice cream bar."

Lerner would not allow her to leave through the front door, but the woman ran out the back door and called troopers from a nearby business, charging documents said, adding the woman told troopers she is "scared to death" of her son.

Charging documents said the mother told Trooper Derek De Graaf that "Lerner is a kind person when is not on meth or OxyContin, but when he is on these drugs he is crazy. [The mother] stated that Lerner frequently steals some of her OxyContin prescription so she is unable to take the prescribed amount."

When interviewed by troopers, Lerner denied the accusations and said the argument was over "stupid family stuff," according to De Graaf's court affidavit. He said he didn't bang on the walls of the house and that his mother never asked him to leave, according to the document.

After the incident, Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak filed a petition in District Court seeking to revoke Lerner's probation and suspended imposition of sentence handed down on June 25 for fourth-degree assault.

In that case, court documents allege that on April 11 Lerner stole 21 units of OxyContin from his mother and hit her in the face with a telephone in her home when she tried to call troopers. He denied hitting the woman with the telephone, according to court papers.

Charging documents indicated Lerner told Trooper Jeff Simpson that his mother was making up a story to get him in trouble.

"Joshua then stated that she was hitting herself with the phone as he was leaving," charging documents said. Court papers said the left side of the woman's face and her lip were swollen and red when troopers arrived.