Fleming Island man on bicycle  can’t outrun CCSO

FLEMING ISLAND – A 22-year-old man was charged with trying to run from Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputies on his bicycle, then wrestling with them before being subdued Monday, May 19, behind a furniture store.

Matthew Vincent Baron, of Fleming Island, was charged with resisting an officer with violence, battery on an officer, vandalism, attempting to flee or elude law enforcement with lights and siren activated, possession of THC wax and drug paraphernalia after deputies had to tackle and use a Taser on him to put him in custody behind La-Z-Boy on East-West Parkway.

According to the arrest report, deputies were responding to a domestic violence call when they spotted Baron riding his bike near Chili’s at County Road 220 at East-West. He was ordered to stop, but he continued. When other deputies tried to stop him in the parking lot at Chili’s and Domo Steakhouse, he steered around them until they finally wrestled him to the ground.

In the scuffle, he grabbed one deputy and took her to the ground.

Baron’s bond was set at $97,517. His next court appearance is June 23.

CCSO: Man arrested for ‘egregious’  sexual abuse of minor 

ORANGE PARK – Clay County Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested a man after investigating allegations of years of “egregious” sexual abuse since she was “a young child.”

Joshua Kim Pare, 45, of Orange Park, was charged with sexual battery of a child younger than 12 and ordered to be held at the Clay County Jail without bond after being arrested on Thursday, May 15.

According to the affidavit for arrest, sheriff’s office deputies initially responded to a missing juvenile on Sept. 5, 2024, and the victim, then 16, described years of abuse.

After interviewing the victim and Pare, investigators found the victim’s information to be “credible,” and the man was arrested. CCSO offered Pare to take a polygraph test, but he refused.

Pare’s next court date is June 9.