HomeCrimeHomeless man arrested for threatening GRACE staff over lack of beds

Homeless man arrested for threatening GRACE staff over lack of beds

July 26, 2025

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Robert Morgenstern, 33, was arrested last night for allegedly threatening a staff member at GRACE Marketplace because there were no beds.

At about 7:32 p.m. on July 25, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to GRACE Marketplace (3055 NE 28th Drive), where a GRACE employee said that he was trying to explain to Morgenstern that there were no beds available when Morgenstern spat on him. He said that as Morgenstern left the dorm area, he turned and pointed a silver metal object at him that looked like a firearm. The victim said he was in fear for his life because he thought Morgenstern was about to shoot him.

The officer reported that surveillance video showed Morgenstern spitting on the victim and the victim wiping the spit from his face. The officer also noted that Morgenstern had been trespassed indefinitely from GRACE in 2023.

Responding officers reported that when they located Morgenstern, he had a silver metal object in his waistband, carrying it like it was a firearm.

Post Miranda, Morgenstern reportedly said he has been beaten and stabbed at GRACE because he did not yet have a bed in the dorm; he added that he can’t trespass at GRACE because he owns it. He said he carries the metal pipe for protection.

Morgenstern has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, simple battery, and trespass after warning. He has three felony convictions (one violent); he has served one state prison sentence and was released in 2022 after serving a four-year sentence for charges out of Lee County. He was arrested in April 2023 for trespassing at GRACE Marketplace, resisting an officer without violence, and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon and was committed to a state mental hospital in July 2023; he was returned to the Alachua County Jail in September 2024, entered a plea of nolo contendere to possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, and was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days in jail, with credit for 364 days served, in January 2025.

Judge Donna Keim set bail at $20,000.

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. 

  • Doesn’t Ward or Poe have an extra bed in their homes?

  • This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Build it and they will come.
    Grace is the dumping ground for DOC sexual predators who are released with no good address.
    Come get your free bus pass and use our computers to apply for foodstamps and medicaid.
    Don’t forget your cardboard and markers to make your panhandleing sign. Don’t forget to see the flyer about animal adoption.
    WELCOME TO GAINESVILLE!

  • Another upstanding citizen of alachua county. Lets welcome more like him to our bum-ridden town. I really enjoy a vagrant on every major intersection in alachua county. It makes me feel really safe

  • Local law firms should be severely surtaxed to fund GRACE. Because it was they and bail bondsmen like Rodney Long who lobbied for its establishment. So their clients would have an address and reason to stay here forever.
    ACLUSPLCDNC 🤡👺👹💩👿

  • Thanks city commission for bringing the ungrateful, unwashed to victimize our city at our own expense, even recently voting to raise our property taxes astronomically to fund this nonsense! 😡😤

  • A police substation there would have caught his trespass notice.

    And a metal detector there would have caught his pipe.

    But hey, let’s be welcoming to everyone at the expense of safety for everyone.

  • He needs to receive mental health treatment in a locked facility. I hope he gets the help he needs.

  • Where is the outcry from the liberals and dem vaxxers? He spit biological fluid at another human being. According to the lefties in town he needs to gave a permanent face mask on just like Rockwell.

  • MELTAL ILL PEOPLE NEED TO BE ON MENTAL MEDICAL FACILITIES, NOT ON THE STREETS- CLOSE THAT PLACE

  • “he has served one state prison sentence and was released in 2022 after serving a four-year sentence for charges out of Lee County.”
    Does Florida State Prison system return people to county of origin upon release from prison? If not then doesn’t that place undue burden on surrounding communities?

  • No worry’s. There can be more beds added after the upcoming Alachua County tax increase. 😵‍💫

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