Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Patrick James Ruda, 37, was arrested Saturday night after allegedly entering the apartment of an ex-girlfriend while armed with a gun and ripping up a sofa and loveseat.

A Gainesville Police Department officer responded to the apartment at Towne Parc Apartments at about 8:40 p.m. on Saturday, where the victim said she was with a friend on the second floor of her apartment when Ruda, a former boyfriend, called her and asked if she was home. She told the officer that she lied and said she was not home because she knows that Ruda carries a gun in his pocket and has pulled it out during an argument in the past.

A short time later, the victim said, she heard noises downstairs; the door was unlocked but had a chain latch. She said she watched from the top of the stairs as Ruda reached inside and removed the chain latch, then ripped her sofa and loveseat in multiple places before leaving. She said she couldn’t tell what he used to rip the furniture, but she estimated the damage at about $1,900.

The officer reportedly found Ruda sitting in front of the Phoenix Super Food Store nearby, and Ruda was arrested. A search incident to arrest reportedly produced a firearm in his pocket.

Post Miranda, Ruda reportedly said he had intended to go to the victim’s apartment to pick up a package, but he never made it there; he said he had just arrived at the store. He later reportedly said he’d arrived at the store around 8:30 p.m., but surveillance video reportedly showed him walking into the store at 9:21 p.m.

Ruda has no criminal convictions but was arrested in 2021 for domestic battery and battery by strangulation; the charges were later dropped. Prosecutors asked Judge Lorelie Brannan to hold him without bond due to the nature of the crime, and she ordered him held without bond.

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.