Staff Report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A Gainesville man, Benjamin Clifford Long, 36, has been taken into custody following accusations of sending threatening messages to a former girlfriend, breaking into an apartment by climbing through an upstairs window, and assaulting a man inside with a firearm.
According to reports, from 10:30 p.m. to 11:42 p.m. on May 22, Long allegedly bombarded his ex-girlfriend with a series of text messages suggesting he was watching her in her bedroom. During this time, he also reportedly made 14 phone calls to her. Concerned, the woman contacted 911 at 11:40 p.m., with some of the threatening events unfolding while she was on the line with the operator.
Surveillance footage from a doorbell camera captured Long reportedly pounding on the apartment’s front door at 11:40 p.m.
Upon arrival, Gainesville Police Department officers reportedly discovered Long engaged in a heated argument with a man in the apartment’s doorway. As officers approached, Long allegedly retreated upstairs, ignoring orders to stop, but was subsequently apprehended.
The male victim recounted to police that he and the female victim were in an upstairs bedroom when they heard the initial pounding on the front door. After the noise ceased, they assumed no entry had been made. However, shortly after, they detected footsteps in the hallway outside their room, prompting the woman to call 911. Meanwhile, the man attempted to block the door with a dresser. He further explained that the lights in their room suddenly went out before Long broke in and assaulted him.
The male victim said Long choked him, and he felt a weapon in Long’s back pocket, pulled it out, and threw it to the side. The male victim said Long put something to his head, and he grabbed it and recognized it as a gun. He said Long told him the gun was loaded, and he pleaded for his life before Long hit him on the head with the gun.
The female victim reportedly said the male victim had placed a dresser in front of the door, and she said Long kicked the door in and choked the male victim, but she couldn’t see much because it was dark.
An officer reported that the doorbell camera video showed something with a wooden handle in Long’s back pocket, and the handle matched a hammer that was found under the nightstand in the bedroom.
The officer also reported that a small camera was found on the female victim’s bed; the officer determined that it was placed in the room before the incident, but the female victim did not know it was there.
The female victim reportedly said Long had threatened to kill the male victim.
Post Miranda, Long reportedly said a friend had dropped him off at the female victim’s residence at about 11:40 p.m. and that he had gone there to get work clothes. He said he knocked on the door, put his ear to the window, and believed he heard something indicating that the male victim was inside the apartment.
Long reportedly said he entered the residence through an upstairs window and pushed his way into the female victim’s bedroom, where he said the male victim hit him. He said he and the male victim fought, and the female victim hit him a couple of times. He said he was not armed during the incident.
A gun was found in the bedroom closet under some clothes, and Long reportedly acknowledged that it was his and said it was for home defense. Long also reportedly acknowledged that he had placed a camera in the female victim’s bedroom and said it was to monitor a child, but the officer reported that the female victim had sent Long a text message, telling him the child was staying with a relative for the night.
The officer noted that several of Long’s statements were inconsistent with evidence found at the scene and were verified to be false.
The officer contacted Long’s friend, who reportedly denied dropping Long off at the female victim’s residence.
Long has been charged with aggravated battery causing bodily harm, aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony, aggravated stalking with a credible threat, battery by strangulation, and resisting an officer without violence. He has no local criminal history, and Judge Craig DeThomasis 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.
