BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
STARKE—A 30-year-old Lawtey man was sentenced to 20 months in prison, followed by three years’ drug offender probation after admitting to snatching a cell phone from a woman.
Aaron Roy Griffis pleaded to tampering with a witness or victim. In a plea agreement, the state dropped another charge of battery on a person 65 years or older.
According to an arrest report, the defendant and his girlfriend were arguing in their mutual residence. The victim told the pair to stop arguing, adding that she was calling law enforcement to get the defendant help with anger management.
“As the victim exited the residence onto the porch area, the suspect followed and took her phone from her hand prior to her being able to contact law enforcement,” wrote Deputy Paul King in an arrest report. “As a result, the victim sustained a minor injury to the top of her right hand.”
King added that the victim called the sheriff’s office to the same residence earlier in the day to have the defendant committed under Florida’s Baker Act. However, Griffis did not meet the criteria for commitment under the statute.
“It is believed that once the victim was made aware that Aaron did not meet the criteria, she then wanted to report the domestic incident,” the deputy wrote.
In a criminal punishment code scoresheet, the recommended sentence for the defendant was 22.575 months, with Griffis’s previous convictions figuring heavily into the computation.
The defendant’s previous convictions include child abuse, battery, petit theft, evidence tampering, resisting an officer, possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of methamphetamine, conspiracy and a hunting violation.
