FLORIDA, June 30, 2023 (Bee News Daily)—A Florida Keys man is accused of setting his ex-girlfriend’s belongings on fire Thursday, and when Monroe County sheriff’s deputies arrived, they said they found a gun inside his house that had been reported stolen.
According to the sheriff’s office, Jeffrey Neil Hammond, 47, remained in county jail Friday with no set bond on charges of grand theft of a firearm, resisting arrest, criminal mischief, and making a bonfire too close to a residence.
When deputies were called to his home on Scout Key in the Lower Keys around 4 p.m., they found a fire burning about 25 feet from the house containing clothing, cosmetics and other items, sheriff’s office spokesman Adam Linhardt said.
The 54-year-old woman, whom deputies have not named, said Hammond wouldn’t let her gather her things and began setting them on fire, Linhardt said.
She also told deputies that Hammond owned illegal guns that she said were inside the house.
Deputies found six rifles and a handgun, Linhardt said. According to the sheriff’s office, one of the rifles was a Weatherby .257 Magnum that was reported stolen in North Carolina.
After initially refusing to be handcuffed, deputies arrested Hammond and took him to jail, Linhardt said.
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Source: AP News wrote the original article.
