Man sentenced for beating elderly woman, pouring fire ants on her

MACON - A 19-year-old man who severely beat his girlfriend&#39;s grandmother and then poured a cup of fire ants on her used the $300 he stole from her to pay off a drug debt and buy some beer and marijuana, a prosecutor says. <br> <br> Pearsall Leroy Gerald was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated assault, burglary, armed robbery and car theft charges stemming from the June 12 attack in Macon. <br> <br> He will be on probation for 20 years when he is released. <br> <br> Gerald told police he attacked the 62-year-old woman because he hated her and because he owed money to a drug dealer, Bibb County prosecutor Elizabeth Bobbitt said Tuesday. <br> <br> In a bizarre twist, he covered the woman with a cup of fire ants he dug up from a neighbor&#39;s yard. <br> <br> He also beat her with a 4-foot wooden stick and kicked her repeatedly in the face, Bobbitt said. Because of the severity of the wounds, it was not clear if the woman was bitten by the ants. <br> <br> ``Her face was not even recognizable,&#39;&#39; Bobbitt said. ``It looked like raw meat.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Bobbitt said she did not know if Gerald was on drugs at the time of the attack, but he told police he had been using drugs in the past. <br> <br> The woman often cared for the child Gerald shared with the woman&#39;s granddaughter. The woman was also required to supervise Gerald&#39;s visits with the child. <br> <br> After the attack, Gerald stole $300 from the grandmother that she had gotten as a birthday and Mother&#39;s Day present, then fled in the woman&#39;s car. He was arrested the next day after the car was found abandoned. <br> <br> He told police that after he left the house, ``&#39;I got some beer and some weed and I paid off my drug debt,&#39;&#39;&#39; Bobbitt said, reading from a police report. <br> <br> At the time of the attack, Gerald&#39;s girlfriend was living with her grandmother. Gerald told police the girlfriend let him in the house before the attack, but prosecutors were not able to prove that and did not file charges against her, Bobbitt said. <br> <br> There were no signs of forced entry. <br> <br> Gerald cried at his sentencing hearing Monday. <br> <br> ``When I went in that night, I wasn&#39;t in the right state of mind,&#39;&#39; he told the court.