What started out as a call for help in a possible kidnapping last week ended with a Fort McCoy career criminal and the alleged victim both behind bars.
Marion County sheriff’s deputies and detectives rushed to investigate the incident this past Monday at a residence at 10520 E Hwy. 316 in Fort McCoy. After they arrived, they determined that the home’s occupant, 51-year-old William Arthur Gadd, had allegedly been involved in a verbal altercation and had fired a weapon while forcing a younger man into his maroon Kia van before leaving the area, a sheriff’s office report states.
A deputy who was attempting to do a well-being check at the home found a live .45-caliber bullet on the ground near the front of Gadd’s residence. Gadd is a registered sex offender and a convicted felon in connection with a 2007 case of sexual battery and he has an extensive criminal history, the report says.
Detectives spoke with two adult witnesses and a juvenile who saw the alleged kidnapping. They reported that Gadd had been seen shooting a firearm and ordering a younger man into his van before leaving his residence, the report says.
Detectives also learned that Gadd had been in possession of a revolver since Jan. 19 – the release date of his last incarceration. And he had been seen firing the gun on his property numerous times, the report says.
Meanwhile, a detective assigned to the sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit spotted the maroon Kia van in the parking lot at Wal-Mart at 34 Bahia Ave. He followed the van and attempted to initiate a traffic stop on Bahia Avenue but the vehicle turned onto Maricamp Road and sped away, reaching speeds of more than 110 mph and traveling west in the eastbound lanes, the report says.
The pursuit continued onto SE 36th Avenue, Hwy. 40, Baseline Road and Hwy. 326. At that point, the van was traveling south and jumped a set of railroad tracks, barely avoiding being hit by an oncoming train. Detectives and deputies then stopped the van and all of its occupants were detained.
Detectives spoke with 31-year-old Randall Albert Martineau, who at first refused to talk to them. But after being told he matched the description of the kidnapping victim, he said he had been with Gadd that afternoon and no kidnapping had taken place, nor had he been held against his will, the report says.
While asking about the kidnapping, he “uttered that he should have let everyone else out of the van,” which led detectives to believe he was driving the vehicle during the pursuit, the report says.
Early Tuesday morning, Gadd was located at the Murphy gas station on SE Maricamp Road. He was interviewed and denied possessing or owning any firearms or firing a gun at anyone. But he admitted that ammunition was at his house and said it didn’t belong to him, the report says.
Gadd was then booked into the Marion County Jail and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill and two counts of possession of a weapon or ammunition by a convicted felon. He was being held on no bond and is due in court on Aug. 6 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charges.
Martineau, who lives at 29 Lake Court Loop in Ocala, was transported to the jail early Tuesday morning and charged with fleeing/eluding law enforcement officers at a high speed and knowingly driving with a suspended or revoked license. He was being held on no bond and is due in court on Aug. 6 at 9 a.m.
Neither Gadd nor Martineau are strangers to the Marion County legal system. Gadd was arrested on Oct. 15, 2018 and released this past Jan. 19 after facing charges of domestic battery by strangulation, warrants for larceny/grand theft and illegal use of credit cards to obtain goods, and a probation violation on a domestic battery charge and conditions of a pretrial release.
In his other arrests, Gadd has faced a litany of charges – some more than once – that included:
- Domestic battery;
- Larceny/grand theft;
- Sexual battery;
- Possession of cocaine;
- Burglary curtilage;
- Dealing in stolen property;
- No motor vehicle registration;
- Attaching an unassigned license tag to a vehicle;
- Grand theft;
- Violation of probation;
- Selling a controlled substance;
- Possession of stolen property;
- Fraud;
- Theft; and
- Passing worthless checks.
Martineau has been held at the jail eight times since January 2008 and also has faced a litany of charges, including:
- Felony retail theft;
- Resisting detainment by a retail merchant;
- Unarmed burglary of an unoccupied structure;
- Grand theft;
- Failure to register a motor vehicle;
- Operating a motor vehicle without a license;
- Leaving the scene of a crash;
- Grand theft of a motor vehicle;
- Driving while license suspended or revoked;
- Petit theft; and
- Fleeing and eluding law enforcement officers with disregard of safety to persons or property.