Homeless sexual offender arrested for threatening property owner and four children with machete

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Charles Milton Johns Jr., 42, was arrested yesterday for allegedly waving a machete at a property owner and her four children while saying he would defend his encampment at all costs.

At about 10:53 a.m. on June 10, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to an office building in the 1600 block of NW 23rd Avenue, where the property owner said Johns had previously been trespassed from the property on May 14.

The officer reported that when the property owner confronted Johns, he was holding a machete and told the property owner that he would defend his encampment at all costs while waving the machete at the property owner. The property owner and her children said they were in fear that they would be cut by the machete, so they called 911.

The officer reported that when he arrived, Johns was holding a machete and was standing on the property, which was marked with “No Trespassing” signs, although he had previously been warned about trespassing on the property.

Johns, whose address is listed as GRACE Marketplace, has been charged with five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and trespassing after a warning. He has four felony convictions (one sexual) and two misdemeanor convictions (non-violent); he has served one state prison sentence and was released in January 2025. He served six months in the Alachua County Jail for a 2025 shoplifting conviction; he is a registered sexual offender in Florida and is also wanted in Georgia for violating probation.

Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered him held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold him without bail until trial; if the judge denies the motion, bail will be set at that hearing.

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.