A repair technician for Verizon in Florida used his on-the-job ability to listen in on people’s phone calls to listen in on his wife’s … and ended up allegedly strangling her.

The Lakeland Ledger reports that Robert L. Rutledge, 51, listened in on his wife’s calls on Monday and deputies reported that he disconnected the line after hearing a call between his wife and an unknown man. The Ledger didn’t say what the call was about.

Rutledge went home that night, “removed the phone from within his wife’s reach,” and choked her with a rope until she passed out; then, when she regained consciousness, he tried again. She managed to escape to a neighbor’s house, police said.

Rutledge turned himself in the next day, was arrested and “faces charges of attempted murder, obstruction of justice, interception of communication and domestic violence battery by strangulation,” according to the sheriff's office.

And yes, we wonder what that phone call was all about … but whatever it was, it’s not a good enough excuse.