High Springs man charged with sexual battery of 17-year-old “roommate”

Staff report

HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. – Joshua Leemichael Terrell, 28, was arrested yesterday and charged with sexual battery of a minor and sending written threats to kill after police received a report that Terrell had sent texts threatening to kill everyone his “roommate’s” sister loved.

At about 4:34 p.m. yesterday, a High Springs Police Department officer responded to a call received from a 17-year-old girl; the caller reportedly said that Terrell, her “roommate,” was acting “overly anxious” and had sent threatening texts to her sister. The caller reportedly showed the officer texts sent to her sister on November 7 that said, “I’ll kill everyone you love” and “Do I need to kill every man woman and child you know and love to prove my point.”

The officer made contact by phone with the caller’s sister, who reportedly confirmed that she wanted to pursue the charge of sending a written threat to kill.

The caller reportedly told the officer that if officers tried to arrest Terrell, she believed he would barricade himself in the house and “wouldn’t go down without a fight.” She reportedly said Terrell had notes and a notebook in which he had drawings and plans to commit “mass murder and executions,” but these allegations are not currently part of the charges in this case.

Further investigation revealed that the caller’s father, who lives in Homosassa, had dropped her off at Terrell’s house about a month and a half ago, and she reportedly said she had lied to her father and told him that Terrell was 20 years old; she reportedly said nobody else lived at the house. She said Terrell had sexually battered her about a week after she was dropped off and that there had been no other physical contact since then, but Terrell had sent her a text that morning, indicating that he wanted to engage in sexual intercourse; the officer reported that she showed him that text. The caller also reportedly told the officer that she met Terrell when she was 15 and that she felt she had been groomed by him.

Terrell was reportedly arrested without incident at his house, and the caller was turned over to her father.

Terrell has no local criminal history; he is being held on $200,000 bail.

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.