A Sheridan tow truck driver accused of breaking into the home of a woman he liked romantically and bashing her male visitor on the head with a lamp now faces prosecution in felony-level court.
Ross Terrone, who turns 62 this year, is facing one felony charge of unlawful entry, plus misdemeanors of property destruction, battery and cocaine possession in Sheridan County District Court after the case transferred there from the lower circuit court Tuesday.
He could face up to 12 years in prison and roughly $13,000 in fines if convicted.
She Says
A woman who turns 49 this year contacted Sheridan police at about 8:48 p.m. on Jan. 12 to report that Terrone broke into her home moments earlier, says an evidentiary affidavit filed in the case.
She and a male visitor were in her home watching TV in a downstairs bedroom, the document relates from the woman’s interview.
The woman heard Terrone pull up to her home in his tow truck then start banging on the front door, she told Sheridan Police Officer Johnathan Stallions.
She ignored the banging and hoped Terrone would just leave.
But somehow he got in, she said, adding that she heard him coming down the stairs toward her bedroom door.
The affidavit says she locked the bedroom door and pressed against it so Terrone couldn’t get in. She told him multiple times to leave and told him he couldn’t just come in without permission.
But he kept punching the door until he broke a hole through it, reached in, unlocked it and pushed it open, allegedly.
He pushed the woman to the side and charged her male visitor, who’d been sitting in a chair, the affidavit says.
The woman fled the room but heard fighting noises behind her. When she reentered, she saw Terrone leaning over her visitor who was now by a different chair, says the document.
Visitor Says
The male visitor told police after the incident that he was watching television with the woman in her bedroom when they heard banging on the front door.
It was probably Terrone, the woman commented.
But the visitor did not know who Terrone was, the affidavit relates from his interview. He watched the woman push against her bedroom door to keep Terrone from getting in.
Terrone got in, pushed past the woman and approached the visitor, saying something like, “Stay away from my girlfriend,” before allegedly breaking a lamp over the visitor’s head.
The visitor did not fight back; he tried to get away, the affidavit says.
As he fled the bedroom, something reportedly smacked the visitor in the head, which made his body go numb and tingle, and dropped him to the ground.
The visitor managed to leave after that.
Officer Stallions saw a dime-sized bruise to the visitor’s left ear and a dime-sized red mark on the back of his head, the document says, adding that the state of the lamp and home matched the pair's descriptions of events.
A Traffic Stop
The next evening at about 9:42, Stallions found Terrone out driving and conducted a traffic stop on him for minor traffic violations.
Then Stallions arrested him on the unlawful entry and violence allegations from the day before.
Upon “inventorying” Terrone’s vehicle, Stallions found a plastic container “containing a powder substance” in the dash cigarette ashtray next to a red straw bearing powder residue, allegedly.
The affidavit says the sample tested presumptive positive for cocaine.
Police also recommended a cocaine possession charge.
Two Years Ago
Terrone and the woman in this case have an apparent history. The woman reported Terrone for stalking in the autumn 2022, but the charge was dismissed the following spring at her request.
In that case, she told police that she and Terrone became friends in October 2021, and had a few dates but didn’t share a serious or exclusive relationship.
He helped her by towing her vehicle that December, but wouldn’t let her pay for the tow, she said.
The woman told police Terrone’s advances grew to become serious, then aggressive throughout 2022, until he showed up to her work repeatedly and uninvited multiple times, and proposed to her at work one day.
The affidavit from that case says Terrone sent troubling texts to the woman demanding to know where she was at various times.
Others in the community attested to Terrone yelling at the woman or accosting her in public, the affidavit says.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
