KEY WEST, October 16, 2019 – A Jacksonville man has been sentenced to more than three years in Florida State Prison for instigating a fight with several people and battering police officers who responded.
Shawn Roehm, 43, pleaded no contest on October 10 to battery on a person over 65 years old, felony battery with priors and battery on a law enforcement officer. Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Mark Jones sentenced him to 38.25 months in prison. Assistant State Attorney Cristy Spottswood represented the state.
Roehm was arrested this past January 31 on Big Pine Key. That day, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer who lives in the neighborhood where the batteries occurred was approached by a witness who told her “there’s a guy next door attacking everyone over there.” She walked over to the house and heard “numerous voices yelling for help” and saw three men and a woman “in an altercation.”
The FWC officer told everyone to calm down but “Roehm continued to be a disturbance,” so she attempted to place him into custody; he physically resisted that. Other FWC officers arrived and they were able to take him into custody and walked him down the driveway.
Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies then arrived and sought to place Roehm into a patrol car while they investigated the fight. But he fought being placed in the car, using his body as dead weight and pulling away from deputies. Roehm continued to “actively resist; his voice and body movements became more aggressive and his behavior escalated.” Deputies finally Tased Roehm and were able to get him in the car.
A victim in the case told deputies Roehm walked up to his house “and stated he was going to fight him if he didn’t give him his pay check” and that Roehm “began pushing him and fighting everyone.” Another said a drunken Roehm “began threatening everyone” and that as he was leaving to get help from the FWC officer, Roehm pushed him.
A third person told deputies that as Roehm began going after the woman at the house, he intervened and Roehm punched him in the face. Roehm also started choking the victim, who told deputies he was “in fear for his life.”
Roehm has previously served time in state prison for battery on a law enforcement officer or firefighter in Okaloosa County.