Homeless man charged with arson after allegedly setting fire in dumpster

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Lonnie Paul Griffin, Jr., 24, has been charged with arson, drug possession, and trespassing after allegedly setting a fire in a dumpster behind a business.

A Gainesville Police Department officer responded to a call about a fire in a dumpster behind Five Below at 2613 NW 13th Street at about 9:20 p.m. last night. A representative of the business reported that Griffin could be seen on surveillance video, climbing in and out of a dumpster behind the store; the video reportedly showed Griffin reaching into the dumpster after he climbed out, then walking away. As he walked away, smoke could be seen billowing out of the dumpster, which then caught on fire.

The officer made contact with Griffin a few blocks away, at a property where he had previously been trespassed. A search incident to arrest reportedly produced about a gram of MDPV.

Griffin was last arrested on October 25, and he pled to trespass after warning at his first appearance with Judge Thomas Jaworski, with a sentence of two days in jail with credit for two days served; he also entered into a payment plan for fees of $276.

Griffin, who is described as homeless in court records, has a juvenile criminal history, one adult felony conviction (one violent), and four adult misdemeanor convictions (none violent); he served a state prison sentence for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon out of Volusia County and was released on March 30, 2023. Judge Walter Green set bail at $35,000.

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. 

  • Another future capital case golden goose for our sorely underpaid judicial public servants 👹🤡🍦🍦🍦🍦D

  • His latest charge is a microcosm of his life so far, he’s young enough to hopefully turn himself around by first getting himself clean.

    • He’s not going to turn himself around. He’s a useless bum. Incarceration is the only thing that will help him & keep him clean…he needs jail and then to be out on work release. They need to do the same with all the vagrant panhandling bums within the city limits…

    • Drugs cause much of psych problems, and it only takes once some. Not all homeless are current addicts, but include past users of psychotic drugs and permanently damaged still.
      But we’ll still a grant-funded needle exchange NGO program anyway. We don’t have enough homeless here.

  • Homeless and “He served a state prison sentence out of volusia county…”…why is he in Alachua county? Send him on a bus back to Volusia county! We are getting all the released dregs from other places to Grace Marketplace. This practice needs to stop. Grace should be closed down and zero tolerance for trespassers & panhandlers! It’s poor city leadership. The city manager needs to fix this problem now. We should never see a panhandler in the street median. I shouldn’t see the trash from the bum camp at the bottom of the 13th st bridge at NW 8th Ave. We should never see a bum panhandling at Waldo road & 39th by the airport…they should get a job or go to jail. Enough is enough.

  • Gainesville is already a dumpster fire, he’s just providing that warm fireside glow.
    It’s also his way of signaling others who may not have cell phones.

  • So a dumpster fire by a white guy gets a $35,000 bond by Uncle Wally, but a broken in door, threats with a gun, kidnapping a child by a non-white, gets a $5,000 bail? What does it take for Walter Green to be recalled?

  • I saw this guy on north 13th at the Gate gas station a couple of days ago. He looked anxious and angry. Looked in the trash can and tried to engage a skateboarder who skated away. If I was a solitary female I would be worried if he approached me. Hopefully he gets clean, but I doubt he will before he completely ruins his life.

  • See Van Winkle’s post about how catering to the homeless and expecting no “real” crime leads to actual crime.

  • And the late night TV comics get an ez joke.
    “Did you hear the latest from Floriduh? A dumpster fire was started by a dumpster fire. . .”

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