UPDATE: Suspect In Ormond Beach Sexual Battery, Kidnapping Case Arrested On Felony Battery Charge

Date Added: February 24, 2020 4:08 pm

Andrew Gant
Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations

Update: Jason Minton has now been charged with felony battery in a separate Volusia Sheriff’s Office case, in addition to his sexual battery and kidnapping charges from Ormond Beach PD.

The victim in the Sheriff’s Office case reported the Feb. 14 incident last week. She told deputies Minton approached her at a business plaza in DeLand, gave her his business card and offered her an interview for a job with Tucker’s Tree & Bobcat Services. She later contacted him, and he picked her up in the company truck, drove her to a bar in Orange City, ordered her multiple drinks and kept asking if she wanted more. The victim reported that at one point, her drink was unattended while she used the restroom.

The victim left with Minton, and he drove her to a wooded lot in Orange City that he described as a job site. The victim said he pulled at her shirt, her bra, and touched her shoulder several times in a series of unwanted advances, and offered her cash in exchange for sex, saying, “With how much money I am going to be giving you, you can’t tell me no, and I can do whatever I want.” The victim was able to refuse Minton’s offers and advances, and eventually he dropped her off in DeLand.

Since the announcement of Minton’s sexual battery and kidnapping charges last week, more than half a dozen women have contacted the Sheriff’s Office to report similar incidents involving him over the past several years. Sheriff’s detectives are in the process of reaching out to those women for interviews and more information, and Sheriff Chitwood encouraged any other potential victims to contact law enforcement.

“I want to thank each of those brave women for coming forward, and I also want them to know we’re going to give their cases the attention they deserve,” Sheriff Chitwood said. “Ormond Beach police did a great job getting Jason Minton off the street, and our deputies and detectives are going to be working hard doing everything they can to make sure every potential victim is heard.”

Please contact Volusia Sheriff’s Detective Justin Martir at jmartir@vcso.us or 386-316-5020 if you have a case to report.

Minton was booked on his new charge today at the Volusia County Branch Jail, where he remains in custody with no bond allowed. The battery charge is a felony due to Minton’s prior battery conviction.