DeLand, FL - A brief standoff at a home near Southwest DeLand ends with a man in custody at Volusia County Jail for holding his girlfriend and her young son against their will.
26-year-old Freddie L. Martin III is due in a Volusia County courtroom this afternoon for his first appearance following his arrest last night (January 9th) at his home on South High Street near the intersection of State Road 15 and West Beresford Road.
The Volusia County Sheriff's Office says a sister of Martin's live-in girlfriend informed them of what was going on around 7 p.m. but deputies managed to get confirmation from Martin's girlfriend after she made up an excuse to leave the home and go to her sister's place.
According to the arrest report, she claims Martin spent the last several days physically and verbally threatening her, including at least five times where she was choked by him and once where she claimed she almost died while he had his hands around her neck and mouth.
He also pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her and her kids if she called law enforcement, per the report.
Martin surrendered peacefully around two hours into the standoff after investigators talked to him through the phone and convicted him to step outside the house, per VCSO.
Deputies afterward found three nine-millimeter bullets in the home but no gun. Martin's girlfriend also complained of pain she suffered from the physical abuse but no visible injuries were spotted on her or the child by deputies, per the report.
The boy in the home at the time wasn't Martin's biological son but he and his girlfriend do have a child in common who wasn't in the home at the time, according to the report.
Martin's been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm by a convicted Florida felon, domestic battery by strangulation and false imprisonment. He's held without bond at VCJ until his court appearance.
Martin was also wanted on several open arrest warrants unrelated to the incident, according to VCJ records.
Florida Department of Corrections records shows Martin has been convicted of 15 total felonies in the past and was sentenced to three years in prison in June 2013 following an armed robbery conviction in Volusia County.
