An Ocala man found himself behind bars early Wednesday morning after his lady friend claimed he yelled at her and hit her with a cell phone.
The woman told Marion County sheriff’s deputies that 31-year-old John Jaysean Ringling was “highly upset” at her and had punched their vehicle. She said he picked her phone and threw it at her, striking her on her right shoulder. The woman said the phone broke and she left the residence to call law enforcement for help, a sheriff’s office report states.
Deputies noted a rectangle-shaped red mark on the woman’s right shoulder. They also saw that the back of the woman’s white iPhone was shattered, the report says.
After being read his rights, Ringling claimed he and the woman had a verbal altercation. He said he threw the phone at the woman’s vehicle but it didn’t hit her. He said the woman told him she was cut by glass from the phone, the report says.
A computer checked showed that Ringling had been convicted of domestic battery on April 11, 2019. He was then taken into custody and transported to the Marion County Jail.
Ringling was charged with domestic battery (second or subsequent offense) and violating his conditional release on a previous domestic violence charge. He was being held on $500 bond on the new charge and no bond on the previous charge. He is due in court Sept. 1 and Sept. 8 to answer to the charges, jail records show.
Ringling also was arrested in August 2019 after his estranged wife claimed he showed up at the Paddock Mall and took her phone from her while she was working at a kiosk. The woman said he left the mall but returned a short time later, walked up behind her while she was working, “bear hugged” her and took her phone. She said he then looked at it and threw it at her, an Ocala Police report says.