BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
STARKE— A 26-year-old Waldo man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for cutting a woman’s throat at the Whiskey River Saloon on Aug. 15.
Robert Opperman pleaded no contest to attempted murder at his arraignment on Nov. 10. In addition to the prison term, Judge James M. Colaw also sentenced Oppermann to 10 years drug offender probation and ordered him to pay $7,949 in restitution to the victim’s family.
According to an arrest report, police were called to the bar at the corner of North Temple Avenue and West Weldon Street around 12:35 a.m.
Sgt. Markel Parks wrote in the report that when he arrived on scene, he saw a large crowd surrounding the victim in the bar’s parking lot.
“Several individuals had a white male later identified as Michael Opperman surrounded in the parking lot, yelling that he was the one who cut her throat,” wrote Parks.
The officer added that he interviewed the victim’s brother, who witnessed the attack.
“(The brother) advised that he had a weird feeling about Michael, because he was walking around the bar with no shoes, just staring at people,” wrote Parks. “(The brother) advised that he was inside the bar talking to his sister (when) the suspect just walked up behind his sister out of nowhere and just pulled an object across her throat. (The brother) advised that when he saw blood coming from his sister’s neck, he tried to stop the bleeding and rushed her outside for help.”
Parks added that after interviewing the brother, he noticed a blood trail on the ground leading to the men’s restroom.
“Once inside the restroom I observed blood on the walls and upon conducting a search of the area, I located a small knife in the tank of the toilet.”
Parks wrote that he secured the area until the lead detective arrived on the scene.
He also reported that after he transported the defendant to the Starke Police Department for questioning, Oppermann started blacking out and became unresponsive. Parks said he then called emergency medical services which took the defendant to North Florida Regional Medical Center’s freestanding emergency room in Starke.
Parks wrote that the victim was transported to UF Shands in Gainesville in stable condition.
