A 55-year-old Orange Lake man with a history of arrests dating back almost 30 years was arrested after a dispute during which he allegedly held a knife to a man’s throat.
A Marion County sheriff’s deputy was called Wednesday night to the home of Randy Paul Jarvis at 19063 N. U.S. Hwy. 441, where he encountered Jarvis’ wife running out of the residence screaming hysterically, “He’s got a knife!” Inside, the deputy found Jarvis and the victim being separated by a witness.
Once the scuffle was broken up, the victim told the deputy he was in the kitchen trying to work on a cordless phone. He said there was no argument between he and Jarvis when Jarvis walked into the kitchen, opened the middle drawer, pulled out a knife and held it to his throat, a sheriff’s office report says.
The victim said Jarvis told him, “I’ll kill you,” while holding the knife to his neck with enough force to slightly draw blood. He said as he tried to push Jarvis away from him, he cut his left middle finger. That’s when the witness stepped in, the report says.
The deputy noted the victim had cuts to the middle of his neck and the tip of his left middle finger with what appeared to be dried blood. The victim declined medical assistance.
Jarvis’ wife said he was yelling at the victim but didn’t remember what was being yelled. She said she saw Jarvis open a kitchen drawer and knew a knife was inside, and she ran outside to meet the deputy. She said she didn’t see Jarvis grab the knife.
The witness, who is the son of Jarvis’ wife and lives across the street, said she called him screaming, “you need to come over now!” When he arrived, he saw Jarvis holding the knife to the victim’s neck and was trying to break things up when the deputy arrived, the report says.
Jarvis denied holding a knife to the victim’s throat and told the deputy, “not a (expletive deleted) thing happened” and “he’s a (expletive deleted) nutcase.”
According to Marion County Jail records, Jarvis has 10 previous arrests since 1990 for burglary, theft, possession of stolen property, criminal mischief, weapons violations, DUI and probation violations. He was charged Wednesday with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and is being held on $5,000 bond. His next date in Marion County Court is Feb. 19.