Homeless man arrested for threatening worker with machete

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Isidro Coste Roman (AKA Isidro F. Coste), 52, was arrested yesterday and charged with threatening a worker with a machete.

The victim told a Gainesville Police Department officer that at about 10:45 a.m. on October 27, she went to a home in the 1100 block of NW 25th Avenue to respond to a request for trash pick-up. She said she saw a man and woman near the woods on the north side of NW 25th Avenue, and when she parked, the man ran out of the woods, screaming and cursing at her. She said he crossed the road in front of her truck, shaking his fists and yelling about harassment, before walking back into the woods.

A short time later, the victim said, the man came out of the woods, pulled a machete from his back, and waved it at her. She said she stayed in her truck, and the man approached the front of her truck, holding the machete over his head, so she put the truck in reverse and backed up while the man ran after her vehicle, still pointing the machete at her.

She said the woman rode past on a bicycle and yelled, “This is harassment!” A short time later, the man allegedly rode up along the passenger side of her truck on a bicycle, screaming profanities and pointing the machete at the victim.

The officer reported that the woman on the bicycle, later identified as Coste Roman’s girlfriend, said Coste Roman had argued with the victim about the pair living in the woods and that he had a machete under his shirt but removed it and walked toward the victim’s truck.

A witness reportedly said he heard yelling outside his house and saw a man riding a bicycle with what appeared to be a machete in his hand.

The officer reported that Coste Roman had a two-foot-long machete in his possession.

Post Miranda, Coste Roman reportedly said the victim had been following him all morning; he said he only had the machete in his waistband and never threatened anyone with it.

The officer reported that before entering the jail, he asked Coste Roman if he had any contraband, and Coste Roman said the officer had already searched him and he didn’t have anything. A search at the jail reportedly produced about 0.06 grams of methamphetamine.

Coste Roman, who is described as homeless in the arrest report, has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a controlled substance, and introduction of contraband into a detention facility. He has one Florida misdemeanor conviction (non-violent) and an unspecified criminal history in other Florida counties in 2021-2022 and in Georgia in 2014. Judge Meshon Rawls set bail at $75,000 with a requirement that he be fitted with a GPS monitor before release.

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.