A man in Florida was arrested after he allegedly chased a college student with autism into a dorm bathroom and repeatedly flicked his face while filming for a YouTube video.
Jack LaRoche has been charged with abuse of a disabled adult, false imprisonment and giving a false name to law enforcement.
LaRoche was arrested following the incident that took place on August 22 on the University of North Florida campus.
Police officers met with the victim after he reported that a man he did not know started following him outside of his dorm, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit viewed by Law & Crime. He then went inside of the building and the man – who has since been identified as LaRoche – continued to follow him.
The victim said he tried to go into a friend’s room, but the friend was not home to let him in.
He then ran to a bathroom and hid in a stall before LaRoche went into the next stall and peeked his head over. He then allegedly started talking to the victim.
LaRoche allegedly entered the stall the victim was in and started “flicking” the victim in the face, which caused his glasses to fall off, per the affidavit. Police said that the defendant then instructed the victim to set a timer on his phone for 10 minutes.
LaRoche allegedly told the victim to stay in the stall until the timer went off and threatened that he would “come back and get you” if he left earlier.
The victim said he stayed in the bathroom until the timer went off because he was “too afraid to leave due to the suspect’s statements,” according to the affidavit. After he left, he went to the police station to report what had happened.
Police officers later found LaRoche while he was walking on campus. He allegedly told the officers that his name was “Jack Jones” and that he was a student at the school. When he was asked which dorm he lived in, LaRoche was unable to name the building.
UNF Spinnaker, the school’s newspaper, has since reported that LaRoche is not a student at the school. It’s not currently clear why he targeted the victim.
He was then taken into custody and the victim identified him as the person who assaulted him.
LaRoche eventually told the officers his real name. He also explained that he was on campus to shoot videos for YouTube and said he was just “f***ing around.”
He has since denied that he assaulted the victim. Following his arrest, he was taken into custody at Duval County Jail on a bond of about $22,500. LaRoche is next scheduled to appear in court on Monday, September 14.
It’s not currently clear if LaRoche has entered a plea or retained legal counsel following his arrest.
