TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee man has been arrested, accused of breaking into his ex-girlfriend's apartment, starting a fire inside, and sending threatening messages afterward.
Javen Whitehead was arrested on Monday and charged with first degree arson, burglary, and aggravated cyberstalking.
According to a probable cause document, the incident happened back in July 2017. Documents say that on July 28 police were called to an apartment in the 500 block of Palm Beach Street about a burglary.
Documents say that Whitehead, who is the father of the victim's child, called the victim that afternoon to tell her that her back door was open.
About an hour later, the victim got another call from a neighbor who said there was a fire on the kitchen stove. Luckily, the neighbor was able to put the fire out.
When the victim got home, she found the burnt remains of a trash bag on the stove.
The victim said the bag was on the ground next to the stove before she left the apartment and believed the door was locked when she left the apartment earlier that afternoon.
Shortly after the fire, the victim's sister, who also lives at the apartment, began receiving threatening messages from an account on Facebook.
According to court documents, the victim believed the account belonged to a woman she knew as the mother of one of Whitehead's children. However, a few days later, the account name changed to "Charles Green," and the threatening messages continued.
Some of the messages even contained threats to kill the victim and her child, court documents indicate.
When police interviewed Whitehead, he denied starting the fire, saying that he would never put his daughter in harm's way. However, further investigation revealed that the threatening messages were sent from Whitehead's apartment on the day of the fire.
Based on the investigation, police issued a warrant for Whitehead's arrest. On Monday, he turned himself in and remains in jail on a $70,000 bond.
