A Wildwood city commissioner is facing second-degree felony charges after deputies claim he texted a death threat.
The 38-year-old Oxford man was charged Wednesday with intimidation/writing or sending a threat to kill or injure.
According to a Sumter County Sheriff’s arrest report, a woman who told deputies she’d been with the man for more than seven years said that on the afternoon of Aug. 1, she received a text message from him that said, “I just beat my sons with a baton because of my anger towards you. I don’t want your gift of freedom. When I get back I’m going to take your life and mine.”
She told deputies that the man was in Texas when he sent the text.
The woman said that for the entire time they’ve been together, the man has been physically violent toward her and that in the past, she’d been punched, choked, kicked, pushed and dragged across a concrete porch.
The woman also alleges the man has previously threatened to kill her and the people she loves if she “moves on.”
The man has no criminal history. According to reports, the man had a first appearance in front of a judge Thursday and has bonded out of the Sumter Detention Center on $15,000 bail.
Criminal threats often revolve around one person’s word against another’s. However, credible threats are those made verbally, in writing, or via electronic communications like telephone, email, or texting. In the state of Florida, a “credible threat” is any behavior that causes the threatened person to reasonably fear for his or her safety or the safety of the person’s family or loved ones, and appears to be one that the person making the threat can actually carry out.A threat can still be credible under Florida law even if the person making the threat has no intentions of carry out the act or is incarcerated.
Cases involving threats can be very confusing. The fact is that these cases can be prosecuted aggressively when mere words were transcribed and no one was legitimately threatened. Regardless, if you are facing criminal charges, you must defend your legal rights, which means you need a Sumter County Criminal Defense Lawyer at Whittel & Melton on your side. through every step of your case. We will fight to protect your rights and work to achieve the best possible outcome for your case. For a confidential consultation, please call us today at 352-793-9330 or contact us online.