In early 2005, he was arrested outside of a bar and charged with
resisting a police officer with violence. Ordinarily, this would have resulted in jail time and a felony, however the charges were reduced to resisting an officer without violence, and Zimmerman avoided conviction by entering a
pre-trial diversion program of alcohol education. In the state of Florida, pre-trial diversion programs are generally only available to first time offenders charged with misdemeanors or nonviolent felonies.
Later in 2005, Zimmermans ex-fiance, Veronica Zuaco filed a civil motion for a restraining order alleging domestic violence. Zimmerman later counter filed for a restraining order against Zuaco, both orders were granted.
Beginning in 2004, and ending with the 911 call the night of Trayvon Martins death, George Zimmerman placed at least
47 publicly documented complaints to police. Two of these calls, made while Zimmerman resided in Lake Mary, were placed in reference to an ex-roommate who was allowing people Zimmerman did not like into his apartment. Zimmermnan also called to report people throwing items at his truck.
In 2004, Zimmerman called the police reporting having seen a man steal a television, and
remained on the line while following the purported thief until police arrived to handle the situation. In the same year,
Zimmerman again pursued an individual whom he claimed had spit on him, after having called the police to report the offense. There are no records of arrests made in either case. In addition to the reports stated above, Zimmerman made several calls about open garage doors, unattended dogs, and suspicious vehicles in his community in Lake Mary.
George Zimmerman was married in 2007, to cosmetologist Shellie Nicole Dean, and in
2009 the couple moved to a gated community named The Retreat At Twin Lakes in Sanford, Florida, located a few miles from their previous residence. He began taking classes in law enforcement at Seminole State University, and took charge of his new communitys neighborhood watch program. He arranged neighborhood watch and safety trainings for the community which were conducted by members of the Sanford Police Department.
By all reports, Zimmerman took leading the neighborhood watch very seriously. On multiple occasions,
calls from him to the Sanford Police are documented reporting suspicious individuals in the Twin Lakes community. In each of the suspicious individual complaints, it is noted that said suspicious individuals were african-american males.
The last call to the Sanford Police placed by George Zimmerman was placed the night of
February 26th, 2012. Police arrived to find George Zimmerman standing next to a dead Trayvon Martin. George Zimmerman claimed self defense, and was taken in to the Sanford Police Department for questioning. He was later released, and although the
lead investigator on his case recommended a manslaughter charge to State Attorney Norm Wolfinger, the recommendation was turned down as Wolfinger deemed there to be not enough evidence.