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MacDill Worker Jailed In Gun Threat At Home

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By JOSH POLTILOVE The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 30, 2008

TAMPA - Jeremy Barton, who works in communications at MacDill Air Force Base, lined his wife and four children up against their living room wall over the weekend and pointed a handgun at them, Hillsborough County deputies say.

Deputies arrested the 32-year-old Riverview man at 11:45 p.m. Sunday.

He was charged with four counts of child abuse and one count each of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, battery by strangulation and tampering with a victim.

The incident began at 6:30 p.m. Sunday when Barton put his wife in a headlock after an fight over family issues at their Riverview home, deputies said.

According to the arrest affidavit, Barton knocked his wife down, then punched her.

He picked her up, put her against a wall and choked her, the affidavit states.

Then he got a handgun and loaded it in the garage. He got locked out of the home but got back inside by firing a shot into the doorknob, the report states.

When he re-entered the home, he lined his wife and children against the wall, pointed the gun at them and yelled at his wife, the affidavit states. He broke her cell phone in half, the report states.

Barton was arrested at the MacDill Motel, 6227 S. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa.

Barton works for Joint Communications Support Element, the Department of Defense's "premier communications organization and the nation's 911 for communications support," according to its Web site.

He began working at MacDill in July, MacDill spokeswoman Rebecca Heyse said. Barton hasn't been suspended, she said.

His children are ages 2, 4, 8 and 9. They weren't injured. Barton's wife suffered bruises, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Barton remained in Orient Road Jail on Monday. His bail had not been set.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691 or jpoltilove@tampatrib.com.

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