40-year-old Brandon Valentine, a resident of Palm Coast’s W Section, was arrested this week for allegedly hitting his 91-year-old grandfather, according to a new report from the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. Valentine has been in custody since Thursday on one felony and one misdemeanor charge.
According to the report, Valentine was his grandfather’s caretaker. He and the victim initially gave conflicting accounts of what happened, but detectives used a video taken on his phone to obtain much-needed evidence to criminally charge him.
The FCSO was first called out on April 14th, after they received a call that Valentine had hit his grandfather. At the time no arrest was made due to the conflicting accounts, but Valentine claimed he’d be sending in video that would reinforce his side of things.
The situation escalated again on Wednesday when the FCSO found out about a complaint placed with the Florida Department of Children and Families from the victim’s daughter. The daughter, who lives in another state, further alleged abuse at the hands of the victim’s grandson. An investigation was conducted and an arrest warrant was obtained, signed by Judge Melissa Distler.
Valentine was arrested and booked on one charge of battery on a person over 65 years old, a felony, and one of abuse of the elderly or disabled without great harm, a misdemeanor. His bond was set at $10,000.
“This man was responsible for caring for his elderly relative. Instead, he chose to mistreat and abuse his elderly grandfather,” said Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly about the ordeal. “Fortunately, he’s not very smart and provided the video evidence that helped our investigators confirm the allegations of abuse. I want to commend our team and our partners at DCF for helping our team to investigate this abuse.”
