Jail inmate charged with June attempted murder in tent encampment near GRACE, second man charged with fraudulent use of card stolen from victim

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jontavious Lanard Alston, 28, has been charged with attempted murder and armed robbery for allegedly hitting a homeless man with a metal pipe, seriously injuring the victim. Alston and Michael Andre Fields, 57, have been charged with fraudulent use of a debit card and criminal use of another person’s identification for allegedly using the victim’s debit card to withdraw money from his bank account.

According to Alston’s arrest report, he allegedly hit a man repeatedly with a metal pipe in a tent near GRACE Marketplace on June 2 and coerced the victim into giving him the PIN for his debit card. The responding Gainesville Police Department officer noted that the victim was beaten so severely that he remained intubated and in critical condition for multiple days. When the victim was able to speak with an officer about three weeks after the attack, he reportedly said he thought three people who live at GRACE Marketplace had been involved, but he did not remember much about the incident.

Fields was reportedly living in the tent encampment near the victim, and a witness said he was present during the attack, but she did not see him hitting the victim.

A second witness reportedly told an officer that he had given Alston, Fields, and a third person a ride to the Circle K at 5200 NE Waldo Road on the night of the beating. He said all three people were sweaty, and he thought they had been involved in a fight. He said they were talking about the debit card on the way to the store, and Alston tried to use the victim’s debit card in the store but it didn’t work, so Fields went inside to help and told Alston the PIN again. The officer reported that surveillance video from the store corroborated this.

Records from the victim’s bank reportedly show that $103.99 was withdrawn from his bank account at the Circle K just after midnight on June 3, and there was a second withdrawal of $23.99 a few minutes later. The officer reported that both Alston and Fields are shown on the store surveillance video at that time. There was another ATM withdrawal of $103 at a different location later on the evening of June 3.

After Alston was arrested on July 30 for battering and robbing a woman downtown, he reportedly identified himself in the Circle K surveillance video during a post-Miranda interview. He reportedly said the second witness gave them a ride to the store and that he had helped Fields check his account balance because Fields did not know how to use the ATM. However, a week later, he reportedly refused to speak to the officer and denied knowing Fields.

A third witness reportedly told the officer that Alston, Fields, and the third man who went with them to the store were all involved in beating the victim and stealing his debit card. He reportedly identified Alston and Fields on the Circle K surveillance video and said Fields had “lied” to him about going to the ATM with Alston.

The person who was identified as the third person who was with Alston and Fields on the night of the beating reportedly denied being at GRACE Marketplace or Circle K during the incidents.

In a post-Miranda interview on August 13, Fields reportedly said he saw Alston beating the victim on June 2; he said he was in the tent when the victim gave his PIN to Alston, but he said he was trying to help the victim and was not helping Alston. He reportedly identified himself in the Circle K surveillance video and confirmed that the second witness drove them to the store. He denied taking part in the attempted murder or the robbery and said he only went to the store with Alston to try to prevent him from taking the victim’s money. He said that when they were done at Circle K, they rode back to GRACE together and Alston kept the debit card. Fields reportedly said the third person was not involved in the beating or fraud.

Alston, who is currently in the Alachua County Jail on charges of robbery by sudden snatching, felony battery, fraudulent use of a dedit card, indecent exposure, and theft, is described in a court document as a career offender who has two felony convictions (none violent) and two misdemeanor convictions (none violent); he has served two state prison sentences, with his most recent release in March 2023, and was on probation for grand theft at the time of his July 30 arrest. Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered him held without bail on the new charges, pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold him without bail until trial.

Fields was arrested on August 13, and a search incident to arrest reportedly produced 0.2 grams of methamphetamine, so a charge of possession of a controlled substance was added to the fraud charges. Fields has two felony convictions (one violent) and four misdemeanor convictions (three violent) and has served two state prison sentences, with his most recent release in 1996. Court documents indicate that he also served prison sentences in New York for drug possession. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $220,000.

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.