BY DAN HILDEBRAN
A 40-year-old Starke man was sentenced to five years behind bars after he pleaded to burning down his parents’ home.
Jeffery Paul Gaudette pleaded to arson of an occupied dwelling. After being accused of the felony in September 2021, the defendant was ruled incompetent to proceed twice before a judge said he could stand trial.
Because Gaudette was in Florida Department of Children and Families confinement for the 1,008 days he was undergoing psychological evaluation, he faces less than 2.25 years remaining on his sentence.
Judge James Colaw also ordered Gaudette to pay over $57,000 to the victims’ homeowners insurance company.
Poured gasoline on living room floor
According to a sworn complaint, the defendant and his wife went next door to his parents’ home shortly after midnight on September 2, 2021, to calm Gaudette down after he became agitated during an argument.
The defendant’s wife told deputies that Gaudette demanded that everyone place their phones on the floor because he thought they were using the devices to record him or call law enforcement.
“Jeffery continued to tell his mother and stepfather to hand over their phones, to which they did not comply, and Jeffery became more angry,” wrote Detective James Crews of the sheriff’s office. “Jeffery then grabbed a knife from the kitchen, went into the front yard, and slashed the tires on multiple cars.”
The defendant then returned inside, grabbed his stepfather’s phone, and smashed it on the floor before attacking the 72-year-old. The two men wrestled on the floor.
“(The wife) was terrified Jeffery was going to seriously injure his stepfather,” Crews wrote.
The defendant then went to the front porch, grabbed a gasoline can, and poured the fluid on the living room floor. After his wife and mother again refused to give up their phones, Gaudette grabbed a lighter and ignited a fire.
After starting the blaze, the defendant panicked and tried to put out the flames, running to his house and returning with a bucket of water. While he was attempting to extinguish the flames, law enforcement arrived.
Deputies first extinguished the 12-foot diameter fire and then began a search for Gaudette, who had fled.
Officers and tracking dogs searched for four hours in an area east of the Bradford County Fairgrounds, near a county solid waste collection site, but could not locate the defendant. Gaudette was found and arrested later the same day.
