Gainesville man’s bond revoked after repeated incidents while on pre-trial release

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – William Turner Heath, 47, was taken into custody yesterday after a judge revoked his bond in a February case; the motion for his arrest shows that officers responded to at least seven additional incidents while he was on pre-trial release.

On February 7, Heath was arrested and charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition and two counts of simple battery after he allegedly exposed himself to two juveniles and threw soda on them. The State Attorney’s Office filed a motion to hold him without bail, but the State Attorney’s Office later withdrew the motion, Judge Denise Ferrero set bail at $60,000, and Heath was released from the jail after posting bail on February 14.

On March 12, the lewd and lascivious exhibition charges were dropped, and formal charges of disorderly conduct and two counts of battery were filed.

On May 25, Heath was arrested for driving with a suspended or revoked license, and Judge Craig DeThomasis set bail at $500; Heath posted bail and was released from the jail on May 25.

On July 25, a sworn complaint was filed by Gainesville Police Department (GPD), charging Heath with illegal dumping of trash. According to the sworn complaint, Heath became upset with his neighbors for an unknown reason and placed three trash cans, a large clothing rack, and a yellow caution cone in the middle of the road in front of his house in the 1200 block of NW 30th Avenue, blocking one lane of the road. The officer also reported that there was a “trash dump in the middle of the road infested with maggots, and it smelled like animal urine. I observed empty food containers, broken glass, paint, and what appeared to be blood on some of the trash.” Medication bottles with Heath’s name were reportedly found in the trash, leading the officer to believe that Heath dumped the trash in the road to prevent his neighbors from driving past his house.

GPD requested a tow truck, which pushed the trash onto Heath’s property. Earlier on the same day, an officer had spoken to Heath at his home, and Heath allegedly got upset and threw a glass bottle at the officer. While officers were at Heath’s home to investigate the trash in the roadway, a call was received about a suspect pulling on the door handles at a business; that suspect was identified as Heath, but he fled and was not located. It appears that charges have not yet been filed in either of those incidents.

On August 3, a formal charge of littering on public property was filed for the July 25 incident. However, Heath has not been booked on that charge.

On August 4, a sworn complaint for battery on a firefighter was filed after a Gainesville Fire Rescue firefighter reported that Heath threw a rock, a rolling office chair, and a dry erase board at a passing fire truck at about noon; the objects did not damage the fire truck. When the firefighter rolled down his window to speak to Heath, Heath allegedly picked up a fire extinguisher and started running toward the fire truck while dispensing the contents of the fire extinguisher. The firefighter told the driver of the fire truck to accelerate, and he said the contents of the fire extinguisher would have hit him in the face if the driver had not accelerated. Heath left the area before officers arrived. Heath has not been booked on this charge, either.

At about 8 p.m. the same evening, officers responded to a call about Heath arguing with his neighbors; when they arrived, they reportedly found him lying down in the doorway of his residence, surrounded by blood. However, as the officers approached to provide assistance, Heath went inside and barricaded himself inside him home. Heath allegedly yelled at officers from inside the house, saying he did not want help, and officers heard a “clicking” sound and smelled gas fumes coming from within the house. Officers evacuated the property and also evacuated neighbors from their homes in case Heath planned to blow up his home. Officers eventually turned off the gas to Heath’s home.

An officer at that scene spoke to the firefighter, who said he had interacted with Heath three times that day, including the incident with the fire extinguisher, and provided videos. The firefighter also said that because of the large amount of trash blocking the road in front of Heath’s home, the fire truck has been forced to take a longer route from the station in that direction, which may have contributed to one cardiac arrest death.

On August 12, Heath was arrested for disorderly conduct after officers responded to a call at O’Brian Apartments (2901 NW 14th Street) and reportedly found Heath screaming loudly. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $5,000, and Heath posted bail on August 13 and was released from jail.

On August 18, the State Attorney’s Office asked the court to revoke Heath’s bond from the February arrest because he committed additional crimes while on pre-trial release; the motion states that Heath’s actions “indicate an inability to remain at liberty without violating additional laws while his case is pending.”

Heath was arrested on August 24 and is now being 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.