Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Davongelo Cortez Kimbrough, 33, was taken into custody yesterday after being accused of placing a 7-year-old child in his vehicle unsupervised. He is also facing charges for allegedly breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment without consent, assaulting both her and another male, and incessantly contacting her over a hundred times after she requested him to cease communication.

An Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy’s report indicates that on June 29, the female victim recounted how Kimbrough, her former boyfriend, threatened her seven-year-old son to coercively gain entry to her residence at 4:26 a.m. on June 28. According to the child, Kimbrough threatened to “whoop” him if he refused to open the door. Subsequently, it is alleged that Kimbrough carried the child to his pickup truck, leaving him unattended, before heading back to the apartment. The female victim estimates that the child was likely in the vehicle alone from approximately 4:27 a.m. to 5 a.m.; however, she was uncertain about whether the vehicle’s doors were secured or if the engine was running during this period.

The deputy observed that despite Park Lane (7553 SW 58th Lane) being a gated community, it offers “easy pedestrian access to all parking lots, and visibility of the parking areas from inside the apartment is impeded.” Moreover, reports from the child mention that Kimbrough’s truck was not parked in the usual spot right outside the apartment but was instead placed in a distant parking area across the complex, from which he couldn’t have sight of the apartment.

The female victim said she was awakened by Kimbrough when he pulled the covers off her bed and dragged her off the bed by her feet; he then did the same to a male friend who was staying with her that night. She said Kimbrough kicked her male friend repeatedly and knocked him down when he tried to stand up. She said she tried to get between them, which allowed her male friend a chance to grab his belongings, but Kimbrough attacked him again. She said Kimbrough pushed her in the face, causing her to fall and injure her ankle. She called 911 and yelled at Kimbrough that he was going back to prison, and he allegedly responded by going into the kitchen and picking up a metal object.

The female victim said she never saw the metal object, but she believed it was a knife because Kimbrough was near her knife block, so she hung up the phone. She said Kimbrough never pointed the object at them or threatened them with it, but when a 911 call-taker called her back, she did not answer because she was afraid.

The female victim said Kimbrough came out of the kitchen, no longer holding the object, and again attacked her male friend, preventing him from leaving the apartment. The three of them struggled at the door, and her male friend was eventually able to leave. The female victim said Kimbrough ran after her male friend, but he was already gone, and Kimbrough returned to the apartment with the child before leaving the apartment at about 5:08 a.m.

The female victim said Kimbrough repeatedly threatened her and her male friend and told her male friend that if he or anyone else ever returned to the apartment, he would kill them. She reportedly did not provide a name for her male friend, and as of the time the arrest report was written, he did not want to be a victim of a crime.

The female victim later said that Kimbrough had contacted her about 100 times by both text and phone call and also asked his family members to reach out to her; she said no direct threats were made, but Kimbrough said she and the child are his family, and nothing will change that, placing her in fear for her safety because she fears he will return to her apartment. Although she has told him multiple times to stop contacting her, he has allegedly continued to contact her.

The child reportedly said Kimbrough carried him downstairs and placed him in the driver’s seat of his pickup truck, without a seatbelt. He did not think the truck was running, but he felt the air-conditioning. He wasn’t sure whether the truck’s doors were locked.

Kimbrough has been charged with confining a child under the age of 13 without the consent of the parent, burglary with battery, felony child neglect without great bodily harm, and stalking. He has at least six felonies (three violent) and at least five misdemeanor convictions (non-violent); he has served one state prison sentence for six felony charges and was released in 2020. Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered him held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s office to hold him without bail until trial; if the judge denies the motion, bail will be set at that hearing.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.