A 29-year-old Ocala man was arrested Jan. 13 after an argument with a woman over an EBT card.
Joshua Allen Ward, 29, was charged with simple domestic battery after the incident. Ward called the Marion County sheriff’s deputy who was on the way to the incident location and said he was going to a horse farm and didn’t hit the victim, according to the sheriff’s office report.
The victim told the deputy that she and Ward had been getting into brief physical altercations over the previous two days. She said Ward had just recently started using drugs again and has not been acting like his normal self. The victim said Ward had repeatedly pushed and punched her over several days, the report said.
The victim said that on the night of Jan. 13, Ward came into the room yelling at her over an EBT card while she was playing video games. She said she didn’t know where the EBT card was and he punched a hole in the bedroom door. The victim said Ward then said, “I am going to bash your face in,” and she responded by throwing cranberry juice on him, according to the report.
The victim said she told Ward to leave the home and he became angry, threw her on the bed and straddled her body while holding her arms down. She said he continued to scream at her until her mother came into the room and got Ward off her. The victim told Ward she was going to call law enforcement and Ward fled the scene, the report said.
The deputy observed multiple bruises on the victim’s arms, as well as a bruise on her right leg that she said was from Ward punching her sometime during the previous two days. The deputy also observed a fist-sized hole in the bedroom door, according to the report.
The victim said she couldn’t call law enforcement for two days because Ward took her phone and wouldn’t let her have it back. She said she never used her mom’s phone because the altercations were brief and worked themselves out, the report said.
The victim’s mother said she heard the victim and Ward in a verbal altercation and saw Ward pacing up and down the hallway while appearing agitated. She said she saw Ward go into the victim’s room and heard her daughter scream for help. The victim’s mother said she went into the bedroom and saw Ward straddling the victim and pinning her arms to the bed. She said she was able to get Ward off the victim and call 911, according to the report.
Contacted at the horse farm, Ward said the victim has been on drugs and he was tired of arguing with her, so he wanted to leave. He said he went into the room to get his EBT card and she grabbed him while he was trying to reach over the bed for it. He said he put his hands on her to keep her from attacking him any further, the report said.
Ward said when the victim said she was calling the police, he decided to leave because he thought it would be the best course of action to take in the situation. Asked how the victim received her bruises, Ward said she probably caused them herself, according to the report.
Ward denied ever taking the victim’s phone and said he has text messages from the past two days showing he has had it. Ward said the hole in the door has been there for five weeks and he didn’t cause it, the report said.
Ward was held held in the Marion County Jail on no bond and is due to appear in Marion County Court on Feb. 26.