Five arrested in separate incidents at GRACE Marketplace
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Five people were arrested in separate incidents at GRACE Marketplace in less than 10 hours, from 4:45 p.m. yesterday to 1:10 a.m. this morning.
Di’Amonta Antwain Robinson, 31, was arrested at about 4:45 p.m. and charged with trespass after warning and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon after a Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officer approached a car with a temporary tag that was parked near the wood line on the northeast side of the GRACE Marketplace property, which the officer called a “known high violence and drug activity area.”
Robinson had previously been trespassed from GRACE, so he was detained, and a single .22 caliber bullet was reportedly found in his pocket in a search incident to arrest. As a convicted felon, Robinson may not legally possess ammunition.
Post Miranda, Robinson reportedly said he didn’t know he had the bullet in his pocket. He said he had been raking and picking up trash at GRACE, had put the trash in his pocket, and then had thrown the trash away; he said he must have picked up the bullet with the trash and then not noticed it was still in his pocket after he threw the trash away.
Robinson was last arrested in October 2022 and charged with sexual battery and drug possession, but the charges were dropped. A few days later, he was convicted of trespassing after a warning at GRACE and sentenced to 30 hours of community service in lieu of a fine and two days in the County jail, with credit for two days time served. He has until March 28 to complete the community service hours.
Nicholas Andrew Alconada, 37, was arrested at about 6 p.m. for trespassing by a second GPD officer. The officer responded to a call from staff and reported that he saw Alconada eating dinner behind a dormitory and detained him. Alconada was trespassed from GRACE in May 2022.
Alconada was arrested seven times for trespassing in 2022, and all of the charges were dropped. Charges of aggravated assault, burglary, petit theft, and battery by a person in a detention facility were also dropped.
Rickie Jerome West, 51, was arrested at about 7:15 p.m. and charged with grand theft of a vehicle and possession of a controlled substance after a third GPD officer saw him riding a scooter at GRACE Marketplace. The officer checked the tag and found that the scooter had been reported stolen on January 23. A search incident to arrest reportedly produced 0.4 grams of MDPV, which West spontaneously said was “molly.”
Post Miranda, West reportedly said that he got the scooter from “Tommy” so he could use the restroom. West is a designated Career Offender who has nine felony convictions and has served seven state prison sentences. He was convicted of drug possession in September 2019 and sentenced to 90 days in the Alachua County Jail.
Richard Monroe Griffin, 55, was arrested at about 11:30 p.m. and charged with trespass after warning. A GPD officer responded to a call from GRACE staff about Griffin, who had been trespassed from GRACE in July 2022 but was inside the Cold Shelter.
Griffin has eight felony convictions and has served five state prison sentences, with his most recent release in 2020.
Joseph Cornelius Young, 42, was arrested at about 1:10 a.m. this morning and charged with trespass after warning and resisting arrest following a call from GRACE staff. A GRACE employee told a GPD officer that Young had been asked to leave multiple times, and they requested that the officer issue a trespass warning. The officer reported that after he issued the trespass warning, Young tried to walk farther into the property and continued to walk farther into the property after multiple warnings that he would be arrested if he did not leave.
The officer finally detained Young, who reportedly tensed up, leading to a call for backup. Young reportedly continued to resist being handcuffed after the backup arrived, but he was eventually detained.
Young has two felony convictions and is currently on probation. He was last arrested in June 2022, entered a plea of nolo contendere to domestic battery, and was sentenced to 168 days in jail with credit for 118 days served and one year of probation in October 2022.
Bail information is unavailable on weekends.
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.
DIS-GRACE MARKETPLACE
It’s obviously a center for drugs and crime if people keep returning after their ability to receive services has been cut off and they know they can get arrested for being there. Shut that train-wreck down – now.
I’m sure not every homeless person is a drug addicted criminal. Don’t shut it down as there are people who really need Grace to stay off the streets and some have children. Show a little compassion and stop lumping all people in need as bad.
The ones without addictions or with kids are welcome at St. Francis and Salvation Army. Grace exists to keep lawyers and “non-profits” fat forever. Fact.
Children aren’t allowed near disGRACE because of all the pedophiles there. They decided a long time ago – children or pedophiles ? – and they picked pedophiles. You sound completely clueless. It’s all a big scam and a magnet to attract mentally ill street people here from all over the country.
If your friends give up on you, your family gives up on you, & the church gives up on you….then you’re an A-hole. Free vasectomy & tube tying so homeless don’t create more homeless…they do it with feral cats…”operation cat-nip”… would you prefer every criminal vagrant to be squatting at Bo Diddley plaza and every sidewalk around town? You may get your wish if city leaders and the city manager don’t nip this in the bud. The sheriff needs to double the size of the jail.
Bill! You seem to be highly intelligent… I wonder why someone as smart as you would be reading this rag_ and yes, I know better myself!
Shut it down it’s a drug haven along with all the tent around it and quit giving handouts, teach them to fish.
I agree. Send them on down the road.
You’d think they’d all be grateful during our freezing nights to have a nice warm cot there…. But nope.
With these types of people at Grace, it seems the smartest thing a person down on their luck can do is get a tent & sleeping bag and find a place in the woods. All the social services in the world are worthless if some guy puts a shiv in you for no reason.
And where would you just “get” a tent and sleeping bag. You are assuming everyone has a job and money I suppose.
Brad- they can just do what the others do & go steal a tent from the Walmart on Waldo Rd. Easy.
Numerous employees there already tell their buddies when no loss prevention officers are working, so they know right when to come steal.
Stand in any median in Gainesville, and hold up your cardboard sign. That’s your job, and there’s your money. Don’t forget, leave all your trash behind.
Taxpayer: No…that ain’t working.
They need vaccine passports to
Go into public places or public transportation like how they dealt with the Covid pandemic…criminals and vagrants should be
Monitored 24/7…maybe create work farms to grow insects for future protein needs since great reset wants to reduce carbon emissions and beef.
The one on 34th and Williston is there every day and his trash is collected in an ever growing pile. I think next time he gets on his bicycle he needs to take a bag full to a dumpster.
It’s called ‘personal RESPONSIBILITY’! Jobs are available and unfortunately for this crowd also illegal drugs too. Being too messed up to take care of yourself ain’t my problem.
They go back because it’s been cold and if they remember they’ve been trespassed they get arrested for acting up. Either way they sleep warm and get something to eat.
At least there is a “GRACE Marketplace” so they are not staying in our streets and neighborhoods like they do it in California.
But they are staying in our streets and neighborhoods like they do in California with free tents from Bass Pro Shop. They have monthly tent handouts.
Put them all on a bus and drop them off at Martha’s Vineyard? I’ll chip in $100 towards getting it done.
I went to the Farmers Market and there were homeless set up in every nook and cranny of the old tag office building.
Gainesville’s attempted to extend a little grace,
By giving some who have been displaced.
A little space they’ve decided to call Grace Marketplace.
There’s not a lot of lace, and you’re not supposed to have mace.
It’s supposed to help people save face,
No matter their part of the human race.
Unfortunately, many can’t make the case,
Instead, they’ve made it a disgrace.
That Grace Markerplace needs to be shut down immediately! Feed the pigeons and what do you get??…
We need more science and technology for this problem…everyone who receives benefits from Grace should be fitted with a GPS ankle bracelet so we can know their migratory pattern…the judges should fit all convicted felons with GPS ankle bracelets too. We will know the drug houses and they people and places they robbed. Remove the anklet bracelet mandatory 10 years in prison work camp so they earn their food & shelter and pay back society…
We need to quarantine them to protect the public. Once rehabilitated,
They can join society.
You realize that even driving with a suspended license enough times can make you a convicted felon. I think there’s a difference in violent/drug related crimes and those that shouldn’t be a felony to begin with. I wish driving without a license was the biggest issue we faced!
AD: Those are the ones that do the hit and runs….they should be off the road and in jail if they can’t follow the law
Those are the ones that don’t have cars…
I just bet the commie commissioners want to put a ‘Marketplace’ on the west side of town too?
Prolly…they will do it because Grace is on the east side….it’s an
“Equity” thing like destroying single family zoning and neighborhoods to create more government assisted affordable housing to end world homelessness as part of the great reset and build back better…
GNV and Grace Mkt are turning into
“Clockwork Orange” with the vagrants & criminals….the problem needs to addressed swiftly & severely…you should know not to enter our judicial system. Zero tolerance now. This “come one ,one come all”
Woke Free stuff is reaching the breaking point…like weeds, give ‘em an inch and they’ll take a yard. Jail should be hell. We don’t need to be inviting Ted Bundy’s here..
I’m shocked at how many of these men had multiple arrests where all charges were dropped.
Since it’s across the street from the airport, I’d like a welcome center built on or next to the Grace property so visitors and new residents can quickly learn how the city commission runs Gainesville.
Why would you want to attract mentally ill homeless people?
You have to destroy the system before you can rebuild it commie-style. disGRACE is doing a good job of destroying GPD, if nothing else. And lots of businesses have thrown up their hands and said, “It’s just not worth it!” Hopefully disGRACE will act as a catalyst to turn this area redder faster. It’s a good litmus test to figure out which politicians care about the real residents/taxpayers vs. insane people from other places who are a pestilence on our community.
Good question. Think any of the local leaders would be willing to answer since they’re the ones sending out the invite?
It’s amazing, but sad, how many of you are calloused towards the general homeless population without having context to situations you’re not privy to understanding. Not all of us at GRACE are drug addicts, criminals, mentally ill, or pedophiles- some of us fell on hard times that we couldn’t manage on our own because we’re not as well off as some of you with the stuck-up attitude. I started staying here recently, but I immediately went looking for a job, and promptly got hired by a stable place to work that will keep me around for a long time to come. I maintain a healthy and active lifestyle, despite the people and the conditions I live around in here. You all who act like assholes towards homeless people have no clue what others are suffering through, and instead of empathy and compassion, you just show a blatant lack of humanity in general. Whatever is making you so bitter and mean-spirited towards homeless people, I just hope you don’t ever end up in the situation others have faced, so that you don’t end up in here like so many of us have.
Wouldn’t you rather have a shelter that turns away people who just want to be vagrants their whole lives and mooch? And people who obviously belong in mental institutions? How about a shelter that allows children instead of pedophiles? One without rampant drug use? Hopefully you are at least from Florida.
Yo momma should have raised you better. Maybe you can get your phukk buddies a job too. Then all of you could be weaned off the taxpayers’ teats.