BY DAN HILDEBRAN
A 40-year-old Starke man called deputies to Starke’s Motel 6, claiming a woman he was in a relationship with downloaded child pornography onto his phone and then banged her head against a towel rack to get him arrested.
Travis Marlon Desue was arrested for battery, false imprisonment, evidence tempering, robbery, and fraud-swindle.
According to an arrest report, the defendant called 911 to report that child porn was on the woman’s phone and that he had taken the device from her.
“Travis advised he confronted (the victim) about her sleeping with young boys,” wrote Deputy Robert Malley in the report, “and she became upset and banged her head on a towel rack and stated, ‘Now you are going to go to jail for hitting me.’”
The officer added that Desue was unable to show him pornography on the woman’s phone and that Malley could not search the device without the owner’s permission or a warrant. The defendant could not produce any porn that was allegedly downloaded onto his phone.
“Travis asked me on scene if (the victim) had reported him for battery on her,” added the deputy. “I advised that we had not received a call for battery at the Motel 6, and Travis stated, ‘Never mind then, there is not anything on her phone.’ Travis then picked up the phone and tried to walk away. Travis then stated, ‘If she has not reported me for anything, then never mind.’”
The officer added that while he was talking to Desue, deputies were dispatched to the Pleasant Grove area about a battery at Motel 6, in which Desue was the suspect.
The victim told deputies that the two entered the room at the motel around 6 p.m. and that four hours later, Desue started “acting crazy.”
When the woman tried to leave, the defendant physically restrained her and then accused her of trying to put pornography on his phone. She added that she eventually escaped from the room and that in the parking lot, the defendant hit her, knocking her to the ground.
Malley reported that Desue was excited and agitated when being questioned. He added that the injuries to the woman and a blood trail corroborated her story. In addition, there was no towel rack in the room where the couple stayed.
The deputy wrote that while Desue was in possession of the woman’s phone, he accessed the Cash App on the device and sent $171 to himself.
