Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Ronald Hashalon Neilson, 32, was arrested yesterday after allegedly snatching a phone from his ex-girlfriend, attacking her and her current boyfriend, and fleeing into the woods. He was eventually captured by a newly-certified Gainesville Police Department K-9 after a manhunt that included multiple GPD and Alachua County Sheriff’s Office units, including the ASO helicopter.

At about 2:55 p.m. yesterday, a GPD officer responded to the Alsander GNV apartment complex, where the female victim said Neilson had confronted her and her boyfriend in the gym of the apartment complex. Neilson allegedly punched the male victim in the face, then pushed the female victim up against a wall by her throat and grabbed her phone from her hands, then told her she would have to come meet him somewhere to get her phone back. All of these events were reportedly captured on surveillance video.

The officer made contact with Neilson outside the apartment complex and ordered him to stop, but he ran into nearby woods. The officer tracked the location of the victim’s phone, and multiple units responded to assist in the search, including a newly-certified GPD K-9 team and the ASO helicopter. The K-9 team reportedly apprehended Neilson.

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Neilson has been charged with robbery by sudden snatching, domestic battery, battery, and resisting an officer without violence. He is also facing a sworn complaint alleging that he threatened to hit a woman and stole her phone on October 20. A sworn complaint for domestic battery was filed against him in 2020; that complaint also alleged that he took the victim’s phone, but he was not charged with theft, and the battery charge was later dropped. He was sentenced to drug offender probation in 2021 for drug possession and failing to make payments on two iPhones he purchased on a payment plan but violated probation in 2022 and was sent to prison for one year and seven days; he was released in March 2023. Charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, robbery and domestic battery were dropped in 2020, and two charges of battery were dropped in 2022.

Neilson has three felony convictions (one violent) and two misdemeanor convictions (none violent). He has three pending felony cases in Marion and Alachua Counties in addition to this current case and an active warrant from another state. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $135,000.

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.