GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Unfolding legal woes for 47-year-old William Turner Heath escalated yesterday as he found himself back behind bars. After a judge decided to revoke his bond from a February incident, officers reported responding to at least seven further disturbances while he was out on pre-trial release.
Initially, on February 7, Heath faced arrest on charges including two counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition and two counts of simple battery. The accusations involved him reportedly exposing himself to two minors while also dousing them with soda. Although the State Attorney’s Office sought to detain him without bail, this motion was later dropped. Subsequently, Judge Denise Ferrero set the bail at $60,000, which Heath met, allowing for his release from custody on February 14.
However, the case evolved by March 12 when the initial lewd and lascivious charges were dismissed. In their place, official charges of disorderly conduct and two counts of battery were formally filed against Heath.
Continuing his interactions with the legal system, Heath faced new charges on May 25 for driving under a suspended or revoked license. Judge Craig DeThomasis required a $500 bail for this offense, which Heath promptly paid, facilitating his release that same day.
By July 25, Heath’s troubles further compounded as the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) recorded a sworn complaint against him for illegal trash dumping. Reports describe an unusual incident where Heath, for reasons not entirely clear, obstructed his own street with three trash cans, a large clothes rack, and a yellow caution cone. Found in the 1200 block of NW 30th Avenue, the debris blocked a lane and created an unsanitary spectacle with refuse infested by maggots, emitting odors likened to animal urine. Among the abandoned rubbish were empty food containers, shattered glass, paint, and suspiciously bloody materials, alongside pill bottles bearing Heath’s name, suggesting his involvement and motives to deter neighbors from passing his residence.
GPD requested a tow truck, which pushed the trash onto Heath’s property. Earlier on the same day, an officer had spoken to Heath at his home, and Heath allegedly got upset and threw a glass bottle at the officer. While officers were at Heath’s home to investigate the trash in the roadway, a call was received about a suspect pulling on the door handles at a business; that suspect was identified as Heath, but he fled and was not located. It appears that charges have not yet been filed in either of those incidents.
On August 3, a formal charge of littering on public property was filed for the July 25 incident. However, Heath has not been booked on that charge.
On August 4, a sworn complaint for battery on a firefighter was filed after a Gainesville Fire Rescue firefighter reported that Heath threw a rock, a rolling office chair, and a dry erase board at a passing fire truck at about noon; the objects did not damage the fire truck. When the firefighter rolled down his window to speak to Heath, Heath allegedly picked up a fire extinguisher and started running toward the fire truck while dispensing the contents of the fire extinguisher. The firefighter told the driver of the fire truck to accelerate, and he said the contents of the fire extinguisher would have hit him in the face if the driver had not accelerated. Heath left the area before officers arrived. Heath has not been booked on this charge, either.
At about 8 p.m. the same evening, officers responded to a call about Heath arguing with his neighbors; when they arrived, they reportedly found him lying down in the doorway of his residence, surrounded by blood. However, as the officers approached to provide assistance, Heath went inside and barricaded himself inside him home. Heath allegedly yelled at officers from inside the house, saying he did not want help, and officers heard a “clicking” sound and smelled gas fumes coming from within the house. Officers evacuated the property and also evacuated neighbors from their homes in case Heath planned to blow up his home. Officers eventually turned off the gas to Heath’s home.
An officer at that scene spoke to the firefighter, who said he had interacted with Heath three times that day, including the incident with the fire extinguisher, and provided videos. The firefighter also said that because of the large amount of trash blocking the road in front of Heath’s home, the fire truck has been forced to take a longer route from the station in that direction, which may have contributed to one cardiac arrest death.
On August 12, Heath was arrested for disorderly conduct after officers responded to a call at O’Brian Apartments (2901 NW 14th Street) and reportedly found Heath screaming loudly. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $5,000, and Heath posted bail on August 13 and was released from jail.
On August 18, the State Attorney’s Office asked the court to revoke Heath’s bond from the February arrest because he committed additional crimes while on pre-trial release; the motion states that Heath’s actions “indicate an inability to remain at liberty without violating additional laws while his case is pending.”
Heath was arrested on August 24 and is now being held without bail until trial.