A former jockey and arson suspect is behind bars in the Marion County Jail after being released from an Alachua County hospital.
Oswald Marvyn Pereira, 44, of Morriston, was arrested early Wednesday morning and taken to the Alachua County Jail. The suspect in a May fire at his ex-wife’s house in Marion County, who then led law enforcement on a two-county chase, had been hospitalized at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville while being treated for burns on his legs, back and arms.
Pereira was released from the hospital on Monday and subsequently arrested in connection with the case. He was then transferred to the Marion County Jail on Thursday, where’s he’s being held with no bond.
On May 14, Marion County sheriff’s deputies and crews from Marion County Fire Rescue scrambled to a home on SW 103rd Loop, where Pereira’s ex-wife lived. When they arrived shortly after 7 p.m., they found heavy smoke and flames throughout the structure. A short time later, the flames broke through the roof as firefighters continued to battle the blaze.
Firefighters managed to locate the family dogs and they were rescued from the burning home and treated with oxygen.
Meanwhile, Pereira is accused of leading deputies on a two-county chase at speeds of more than 100 mph, starting out in a Dodge Charger painted similar to the General Lee from the television show “Dukes of Hazzard” and then switching to a white Cadillac Escalade at a horse farm where he worked.
The chase eventually ended at a residence in Alachua County on SE 186th Terrace. Pereira was found hiding in a closet inside the mobile home by deputies from Marion and Levy counties and police officers from Williston. He was then transported to Shands for treatment of his burns.
During an interview at the hospital, Pereira allegedly admitted to a sheriff’s lieutenant that he had poured gasoline around the house and lit it on fire, the original arrest report states.
According to horse racing resource Equibase, Pereira earned almost $23.8 million as a jockey from 1996-2012. He made 13,502 starts and recorded 1,744 wins; 1,814 second-place finishes and 1,807 third-place showings.
Pereira is being held at the Marion County Jail on charges of domestic arson; fleeing or eluding an officer with lights and siren active; contempt of court for violating a domestic violence injunction; aggravated assault on an officer, firefighter or EMT; reckless driving (first offense) and resisting an officer without violence. He is scheduled to appear in a Marion County courtroom on July 9 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charges.
Pereira is no stranger to the Marion County legal system, having been arrested April 25 on an outstanding warrant for petit theft. He also was arrested Feb. 22, 2018 for aggravated domestic battery, jail records show.