Cross City man arrested for carjacking ex-girlfriend in Jonesville parking lot

Staff report

Updated on August 17 with pre-trial detention information.

JONESVILLE, Fla. – Carlo Jermaine Williams Jr., 25, was arrested yesterday after allegedly hiding in his ex-girlfriend’s vehicle and then grabbing her hair, taking her cell phone, maneuvering into the driver’s seat, and then dragging her alongside the vehicle.

At about 1:25 p.m. on August 11, an Alachua County Sheriff’s (ASO) Deputy responded to a credit union parking lot in Jonesville, where the victim said she had gone to Publix on her lunch break and had left her vehicle’s doors unlocked while inside the store. As she drove back to work, talking on the phone, she drove over a speed bump in the credit union parking lot and saw movement in the back seat; she looked back, saw Williams in the back seat, and screamed. She said Williams grabbed her by the hair, snatched her phone, and hung up the phone call.

The victim said she tried to get out of the car, but Williams pulled her back by the hair, took over the driver’s seat, and drove around the parking lot, dragging her alongside the vehicle. She was eventually able to get away, and she fled inside the credit union to call law enforcement.

Williams reportedly drove the victim’s vehicle to the back of the parking lot and then left the vehicle in the middle of the parking lot before driving away in his own vehicle.

The deputy noted that the victim had injuries to her legs that corroborated her story; she also reportedly showed the deputy threatening messages and emails from Williams over the past three months. One message threatened to “beat you a**” if she talked to anyone, and another said, “Ain’t nun finna happen to me. Only person should be worried is you.”

Dixie County Sheriff’s Deputies reportedly told ASO that Williams had called them, and they told him to go back to Alachua County and speak with ASO; he was arrested at the credit union at about 6:30 p.m.

Williams reportedly acknowledged that he had been served an injunction for protection early that morning and was not supposed to have contact with the victim.

Williams has been charged with unarmed carjacking, burglary with battery, kidnapping, robbery by sudden snatching, and aggravated stalking after a no-contact order. He has no criminal convictions, but he is facing a sworn complaint for battery following an alleged road rage incident with a different victim in January. Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered him held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold him without bail until trial. On August 17, Judge Robert Groeb granted the motion and ordered him held without bail until trial.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.