Investigators said Lennie Dufrene threatened violence in front of officers before his tenant returned home and was later hospitalized with facial fractures.

DAVIE, Fla. — Police had already warned a Florida landlord that attacking his tenant could put him behind bars when, investigators allege, the landlord made clear that he still intended to hurt the man.

Lennie Joseph Dufrene Jr., 58, is accused of later carrying out that threat after the tenant returned from a medical facility to the Davie residence where he had been living. According to accounts of a police probable cause affidavit, Dufrene repeatedly punched the tenant in the face, continued hitting him after he lost consciousness and then choked him until he blacked out again. The tenant was later found at a nearby convenience store and taken to a hospital, where doctors diagnosed fractures around his left eye and nose. Dufrene was arrested on one count of felony battery.

The allegations stand out because police say the confrontation was preceded by statements Dufrene made directly to officers. Davie police had gone to the property after Dufrene called and reported that the tenant was damaging it. Officers met with both men, and the tenant was later taken to a medical facility for an involuntary examination under Florida’s Baker Act. Public reporting based on the warrant does not detail what officers observed that led to the examination or establish that the tenant was charged with a crime in connection with the property dispute.

Before officers left, Dufrene allegedly told them that he would kill the tenant after the man was released from the hospital. According to the affidavit as reported by WPLG Local 10, officers told Dufrene that carrying out such a threat would send him to prison. Police said he then changed the wording of the threat and indicated that he would beat the tenant instead. Officers warned him again that an assault would lead to jail. The statements later became part of the evidence investigators cited when the tenant reported that he had in fact been attacked after returning home.

The tenant was released from the medical facility at about 2:30 p.m., according to Local 10’s account of the warrant. When he reached the residence, police said, he discovered that the code controlling the lock had been changed. The available criminal reports do not explain whether there was a pending eviction case, whether either man had obtained a civil court order or what the legal status of the tenancy was at the time. Those unanswered housing questions are separate from the criminal allegation now facing Dufrene.

Investigators said Dufrene came outside while the tenant was trying to return to the property and began punching him repeatedly in the face. The tenant told police that the blows caused him to lose consciousness. When he regained awareness, he said, he was face down with Dufrene on top of him, continuing to strike the back of his head. The tenant further alleged that Dufrene then placed pressure on his neck and caused him to lose consciousness a second time. The accusation is contained in the police account and has not been established as fact at a trial.

After the encounter, the tenant left the residence and moved through the surrounding area, police said. He later told investigators that he believed Dufrene had been trying to kill him. Because the access code had been changed, he also said he could not simply return inside. The reports reviewed for this story do not establish how long either period of unconsciousness lasted or give a complete timeline of the tenant’s movements after he left the property.

The following day, another police call brought officers back into contact with him. Employees at a Wawa at 2500 Davie Road reported that a man had remained on the property for an extended period and appeared to have been severely injured. Responding officers recognized him as the tenant from their earlier call involving Dufrene, according to the affidavit. That recognition connected the man’s injuries to the landlord-tenant dispute officers had already handled.

The tenant provided a sworn statement describing the alleged assault before he was taken to HCA Florida University Hospital for treatment. Doctors found a fracture to the floor of his left eye socket and multiple nasal fractures, according to the warrant accounts. Police then concluded that there was probable cause to arrest Dufrene. The medical findings were significant because Florida’s felony battery statute requires more than an unwanted intentional strike: the offense charged under Section 784.041 includes conduct that causes great bodily harm, permanent disability or permanent disfigurement.

Under Florida law, felony battery under that section is a third-degree felony. The statute also includes a separate offense involving domestic battery by strangulation, but the public records and reporting reviewed for this story identify Dufrene’s filed charge as felony battery. Although the tenant told police that Dufrene choked him, that allegation should not be converted into an additional criminal count that the available records do not show. Prosecutors must prove the offense actually charged, and Dufrene is entitled to contest both the tenant’s account and the state’s evidence.

The Baker Act portion of the story also has a narrower meaning than the criminal allegation. Florida law permits an involuntary mental health examination when defined criteria are met, including certain circumstances involving mental illness and a risk of serious harm or neglect. Being transported for such an examination is not itself a criminal conviction. The reports reviewed here do not disclose the specific grounds officers relied on in the tenant’s case, and they do not establish that the earlier property-damage allegation resulted in criminal charges against him.

After detectives obtained a warrant, Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Dufrene at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, according to Local 10. A Broward judge found probable cause and set bond at $15,000. The station reported that Dufrene was no longer appearing in county jail records by the morning of July 29. Release on bond does not determine guilt or resolve a criminal case; it addresses whether a defendant remains in custody while the charge proceeds.

The case later produced a significant procedural development at the state level. On Aug. 21, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Executive Order 26-178 assigning Palm Beach County State Attorney Alexcia Cox of Florida’s 15th Judicial Circuit to handle the investigation, prosecution and related matters involving Dufrene in Broward County’s 17th Judicial Circuit. The order gives a specific reason for the reassignment: Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor advised the governor that the victim is related to a former employee of his office.

Pryor voluntarily disqualified himself to avoid a conflict of interest or the appearance of impropriety, according to the executive order. Cox agreed to take the assignment. The order authorizes her, designated assistant state attorneys and investigators to perform the required duties in the 17th Judicial Circuit. It remains in effect for one year, through Aug. 21, 2027, and directs the assigned state attorney to notify the governor by July 21, 2027, if more time is needed.

That reassignment does not amount to a finding about the truth of the assault allegation. It determines who will represent the state in handling the case after the Broward state attorney stepped aside. The executive order itself says only that Dufrene has been arrested for felony battery and sets out the conflict issue that led to the outside assignment. Whether the charge can be proved remains a matter for the courts.

There is also a discrepancy in published accounts over the precise date of the initial police response. Local 10 reported on July 29 that Davie police said the alleged attack occurred the previous Wednesday, while Law&Crime later reported that the probable cause affidavit placed the initial police response on June 22. Because those descriptions cannot be reconciled from the published accounts alone, this report does not assign a definitive calendar date to the original dispute. The core sequence described by both reports is consistent: police responded to a landlord-tenant dispute, the tenant was taken for examination, Dufrene allegedly made threats, the tenant returned to find the lock code changed, and police say the beating followed.

The latest verified official development located in the case is the Aug. 21 executive assignment. The reviewed materials do not establish a conviction, plea or final disposition for Dufrene. The felony battery allegation remains pending in the public record reviewed for this report, with an outside state attorney assigned to handle the prosecution and related matters.

Author note: Last updated September 8, 2026.