Deputies: Florida man attacks sex offender with hammer

3:38 p.m. Wednesday, March 9, 2016 | Filed in: Crime

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A Florida man was arrested on Monday after deputies said he came to the house of a convicted sex offender and attempted to hit the man with a hammer in order to “vindicate his wrong doings.”

Ian Saum, 26, told authorities that he looked up sex offenders in his area and came across Bruce Babchyck, 54, a former Navy officer who served a year in prison in 2014 for downloading child pornography, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

Lake County Sheriff's Office

Ian Saum

Deputies said when Babcyck came to the door, Saum “lunged at him with the hammer,” but the 54-year-old was able to push Saum out the door. The Daily Commercial reports deputies found the front door dented.

Members of Saum’s family told deputies that he “had bragged about breaking into a sex offender’s home and beating him with a hammer.” When deputies found him, he told them he hoped the attack would “vindicate him of his wrong doings.”

Saum was arrested and charged with burglary and criminal mischief. His mother told The Sentinel her son is "mentally ill" and needs help.

Recently, an Alabama lawmaker attempted to pass a bill that would require registered sex offenders to pay for their own castration upon leaving prison.