An angry Lady Lake stepfather was arrested Friday after allegedly sending lengthy text messages to his juvenile daughter’s boyfriend that threatened violence and mutilation, among other things.
Fruitland Park Police officers were called to a home in the 800 block of Berryhill Circle and when they arrived, the juvenile boy’s parents said he had received the threatening text messages from 35-year-old Jared Mathew Weingarten, of Lady Lake. The boy told officers that he was in a “dating relationship” with Weingarten’s 13-year-old, who he had met through a mutual friend on FaceTime. He said his girlfriend hadn’t told her stepfather about their relationship because he would be mad if he found out, the report says.
The boy said he had been exchanging text messages with whom he believed to be his girlfriend but the responses back were “strange and out of character” for their normal conversations. He said he was being asked questions like, “Remember that Facetime (when you were naked),” the report says, adding that boy claimed he and the girl had never exchanged nude photographs or had sexual conversations.
The boy said he received the first threatening message at 10:16 p.m. when the girl’s stepfather identified himself. He confirmed that the boy had been texting with him for an hour and said he would beat his (expletives deleted) if he ever contacted his daughter again via phone, email or any form of social media, the report says.
A portion of the text read: “I’m a very bad person who has a lot of bad friends who can and will visit your home and do unspeakable things to the people you love for (expletive deleted) WITH ME!!”
The text also threatened harm to the juvenile’s private parts and said if there no response he would move forward “acting a (expletive deleted) fool. And a second text said the girl’s friends had been warned that the boy shouldn’t try to communicate with his daughter through them, closing with, “Ima just sit back and see what unfolds,” the report says.
An officer met with the girl, who is in seventh grade, at her middle school and conducted a recorded interview. She confirmed that she met the boy on FaceTime and after talking for three days, he asked her to be his girlfriend and “a dating relationship started.” She said they had been in the relationship for about a month and she hadn’t told her mother or stepfather, the report says.
The girl said Weingarten had asked to see her phone, so she decided to tell him about the relationship with the boy. She said he then took her phone and told her to go to her room, the report says.
The girl said the boy had been trying to get her to go to church with him and that possibly could have been an issue with her stepfather. She said he “wiped the phone clean” and told her not to use it or any other friend’s phone to contact the boy. And he said he was aware that the boy was about 14 or 15 years old, the girl told the officer.
Officers then met with Weingarten, who confirmed that he was “mad about the relationship.” When asked if he had sent the threatening text messages, he said he was going to “plead the fifth” and assured officers that the girl’s mother never had possession of her phone, the report says.
Weingarten, who lives in the 4400 block of Calamondin Street in Lady Lake, was taken into custody and transported to the Lake County Jail, where he was charged with intimidation/sending a written threat to commit bodily harm. He was released Friday night on $5,000 bond and is due in court Oct. 21 at 8:30 a.m. to answer to the charge.