Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Joel Angel Foster, 28, who was arrested last August on charges related to shooting into the air at Tiger Bay and pled to 10 counts of calling a domestic battery victim from the jail in January, has been charged with 40 new counts of violating his pre-trial release conditions after allegedly calling the domestic battery victim 532 times after his January conviction on the same charges.

Foster was arrested in August 2024 on six felony charges and two misdemeanor charges; one of the aggravated assault charges was domestic in nature, and one of the misdemeanors was for domestic battery, with the same victim in both cases. He was instructed to have no contact with the victims, including the domestic battery victim.

However, he was charged in October with 40 counts of violating his pre-trial release conditions after allegedly calling the domestic battery victim 429 times, and in January he entered a plea of nolo contendere to 10 counts of violating pre-trial release conditions (the other 30 counts were dropped), and on January 8, Judge Meshon Rawls sentenced him to 180 days in jail with credit for 83 days served.

Foster’s phone privileges were suspended after the October charges were filed, but after that case was resolved, his phone privileges were restored, and he again allegedly contacted the victim directly 532 times, using four different inmate PIN numbers, between February 5 and March 18.

In December, while the pre-trial release violation case was pending, Foster filed a motion asking for the pre-trial conditions to be modified, arguing that both domestic violence charges were dropped and that he and the victim share a child, so he would like to communicate with the victim about their child. The motion was denied.

On February 27, Foster again filed a motion asking for the pre-trial conditions to be modified so he could communicate with the mother of his child, and a hearing on that motion was scheduled for this afternoon.

Foster has been charged with 40 new counts of violating pre-trial release conditions. Judge Kristine Van Vorst added $120,000 to his bail and ordered that his phone and video use be restricted to his attorney.

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.