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Man chokes woman, threatens to feed her to gators, cops say

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 30, 2009

BRANDON - As a 28-year-old Brandon man was choking the mother of his three children unconscious this morning, he told her he was going to kill her and dump her body at a gator pond, Hillsborough County deputies say.

Henry Leonard McGall ran from investigators when they arrived but was arrested at 1 p.m. today, an arrest report states. The woman, 27-year-old Nicole Bowles, refused medical attention.

Though the sheriff's office says Bowles was the victim in the choking incident, she also was arrested at the home she and McGall share at 832 Louise St.

She was arrested because while deputies were searching for McGall at his home, Bowles and another man – Christopher Cleveland, 21, of Valrico – were in the home's fenced-in yard along with a half dozen pit bulls that were fighting among themselves, sheriff's spokesman Larry McKinnon said.

Bowles' 4-year-old daughter was also in the yard. Deputies tried to get Bowles and Cleveland to protect the child, but they were uncooperative, the sheriff's office said.

"It was just a very chaotic scene," McKinnon said. "While [deputies were] trying to get to the bottom of this fight that spanned between two residences, from one end of the block to the other, now they're worrying about the welfare of a child in the midst of six pit bulls fighting."

McGall was charged with attempted murder, battery by strangulation and resisting an officer without violence.

Bowles was charged with felony child neglect and resisting an officer without violence.

Cleveland was charged with culpable negligence and resisting an officer without violence.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691.

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