MIAMI – Alfonso Kelly allegedly sat down outside of his former home in Miami-Dade County to wait for a woman, who he is married to but recently separated from. She arrived at about 9:30 p.m., on Saturday, and she reported that what followed was a frightening attack, police said.
The woman, who is separated from Kelly, accused him of punching her in the left side of her head, grabbing her “in a bear hug” as she tried to get away, and driving away with her cell phone to destroy it — all to prevent her from asking for help after he hit her, according to the police report.
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Police officers arrested Kelly, a 39-year-old father of three who doesn’t have a criminal record, on Tuesday in Gladeview. He appeared in bond court on Wednesday before Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer, who ordered him to stay away from the mother of his one-year-old son.
“Even if she calls you up, you cannot speak to her, you cannot have any communication with her,” Glazer told Kelly in court.
Police officers and prosecutors agreed Kelly had to be charged with kidnapping, a first-degree felony. A prosecutor said in court that “the kidnapping would be carrying her back to the house.”
Glazer disagreed after listening to his defense attorney’s argument saying it was all “a regular domestic violence case” because the brief “bear hug” was “inconsequential,” didn’t fit Florida’s legal definition of the charge, and among other things, the two had been together for six years, including four as husband and wife.
“I don’t see kidnapping; I am sorry,” Glazer said before she agreed with a prosecutor to reduce the first-degree felony charge to false imprisonment, a third-degree felony.
Glazer also found probable cause for tampering with a victim, a third-degree felony; strongarm robbery, a second-degree felony; and battery, a first-degree misdemeanor. She set his bond at $14,000 and ordered pre-trial release.
Had Glazer agreed to the kidnapping charge Kelly would have been held without bond. Court records show Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Richard Hersch is presiding over Kelly’s case. His arraignment had yet to be scheduled on Wednesday afternoon.