An Ocala man and his mother are behind bars in the Marion County Jail after a violent scuffle with Ocala Police officers outside a convenience store.
Officers were called to Sam’s Big Apple, at 1943 S Silver Springs Blvd., on Thursday and when they arrived, they saw 24-year-old Deveontae Rashaut Rhem at the corner of the building. He attempted to walk away and was quickly detained in handcuffs because officers were investigating a criminal complaint, a police report says.
As an officer was attempting to place him in the back seat of a patrol vehicle, Rhem closed the door. His mother, 39-year-old Latasha Denise Rhem, then hit the officer’s arm with her hand and stood in front of him as he tried to place her son inside the patrol vehicle, the report says.
Deveontae Rhem was saying, “Fight him, mom,” as the officer’s handcuff key fell out of his pocket and Latasha Rhem picked it up. She was tased a short time later by an Ocala Police lieutenant and eventually hit a sergeant and attempted to flee the scene, the report says.
Both Deveontae and Latasha Rhem were arrested and transported to the Marion County Jail. Deveontae Rhem was charged with trespass after warning and resisting an officer without violence. He was being held on $5,000 bond and is due in court on Oct. 4 at 1 p.m.
Latasha Rhem was charged with two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer, two counts of resisting an officer without violence and petit theft. She is being held on $12,500 bond and also is due in court Oct. 8 at 9 a.m.
Neither Deveontae nor Latasha Rhem are strangers to the Marion County legal system, having been held in the jail a combined 28 times. Deveontae Rhem has been arrested eight times since November 2014 on a litany of charges. Two of those arrests came in August for possession of drug paraphernalia, panhandling and trespassing after warning.
Latasha Denise Rhem has been arrested 20 times since January 2000 on a multitude of charges. Four of those arrests came earlier this year and were for trespassing.