FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A woman reported regretting dating Patrick E. James, who appeared in bond court and was at the main jail on Friday, in Fort Lauderdale.
According to a police report, James, 32, confessed to the crimes against her on social media and did them in front of her sister and neighbors.
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“The defendant tried to grab the victim’s neck through an open window,” Officer Christina Page wrote, adding the victim’s sister was in the car and saw him.
The woman reported she was able to step on the gas and drive away before James could hurt her on March 12 in Broward County. According to a police report, James, or Fort Lauderdale, wasn’t done with his abuse.
The woman’s neighbors reported hearing when he broke her car’s front windshield and slashed tires.
“Each tire had been sliced multiple times,” Page wrote in the arrest report.
Outside of the woman’s apartment, James allegedly also broke windows and pushed a window air conditioning unit inside. She reported that fixing his damage cost about $1,355.
According to the Florida Department of Corrections, James is a convicted felon who was released from prison in 2019 after 2014 convictions in Broward for grand theft and burglary in 2013 and robbery in 2010.
Broward court records show that in 2021, police officers arrested James in Plantation accusing him of two counts of petit theft and one count of uttering a forged instrument.
After the alleged March 12 incident with his ex-girlfriend, Broward County Circuit Judge Peter Holden sentenced James to a 6-month probation in the 2021 case. It’s from March 18 to Sept. 18.
On April 25, prosecutors filed a second-degree felony case against James over the alleged March 12 incident, and Broward County Circuit Judge George Odom Jr. issued a warrant for his arrest.
Deputies arrested James on Thursday, and he faced two counts of criminal mischief and missile into a dwelling, vehicle, or aircraft. A bond court judge set his bond at $9,000.