Kidnapping, Child Abuse, Aggravated Battery: 2 Men Face Charges in Separate Domestic Incidents That Spiraled

Justin John Peralta, a 40-year-old resident of Richmond Drive in Palm Coast, and Steven McSwain, 47, of Cranberry Avenue in Bunnell’s Mondex, are at the Flagler County jail on grave charges resulting from unrelated domestic violence incidents that spiraled out of control just before the weekend.

McSwain is also known as Richard Wharton, a felon with five stints in state prison since 2004, the last ending in September 2021, according to the Department of Corrections. He was previously sentenced for trafficking in stolen property, child abuse,  domestic battery and battery on public safety responders. “Based on Internet database searches,” his latest arrest report states, he “has multiple assault charges, injunction violations, and other narcotic-related charges.




Last Thursday, he was charged with kidnapping and tampering with a witness, each a first degree felony, and domestic battery by strangulation, a third degree felony. He’s being held on $75,000 bond.

He and the alleged victim had been dating and living together for the past month, with McSwain agreeing to contribute $750 a month until his girlfriend told him he had to find another place to live.

“He picked up a book bag and went to the porch,” the alleged victim reported on a domestic violence assessment and statement form. “I asked if that was all he needed so I could lock the door and go to bed. I walked in the house; he came in behind me yelling and I asked him to leave me alone. He grabbed me by my neck, choked me, and threw me on the floor. I went to get up, but he said I needed to lay down, I told him no, so he grabbed me by my hair, and drug me into the bedroom, I got up and tried to leave the room, but he grabbed me again and threw me on the floor, banging my head multiple times on the floor.”




When she asked him to stop, he spoke a demeaning, sexist slur, “then I did tell him when my kids find out what he’s doing, they’re going to kick his ass. So, he repeatedly banged my head and said he was going to make it worth it.” He’d seized her phone. She says she tried to escape 15 times. He wouldn’t let her and kept assaulting her, she says, until she managed to go to the bathroom, climb out of a window and drive off in her van. When she made contact with Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies, a deputy observed abrasions and redness on different parts of her face and body.

Deputies surrounded the residence in the Mondex but did not find McSwain when they entered after half an hour of trying to make contact. Deputies found him the next day. He remains at the county jail.

The Peralta incident also took place last Thursday. When deputies arrived at the R-Section house Peralta shares with his wife of 16 years and their two teen-age children, Peralta was inside his house, just behind the sliding glass door, telling deputies, “blow me away, right to my head, blow my head off, I don’t want to live anymore.” After some verbal resistance from him , deputies, who are trained in de-escalation, secured him in handcuffs.

Peralta’s wife told deputies that before her relationship with Peralta, she had been the victim of a grave assault. She was having PTSD, and had asked Peralta to give her a hug and prepare a bath for her. Peralta got upset with her, telling her he wasn’t to blame for the assault so he shouldn’t have to comfort her. It was just a verbal argument. But as they went into the kitchen, she says Peralta “shoved her into the stove and pulled her by the hair,” according to Peralta’s arrest report, threw her to the ground and kicked and struck her several times in the back and neck, though he’s fully aware that she suffers from scoliosis, a spinal condition that can cause pain.




Seeing his mother on the floor, covering her head under his father’s blows, her son intervened, he later told authorities, but Peralta allegedly pushed him across the kitchen, causing him to fall and hit his head and right elbow on the tile floor. She got up, took her son and went to a room from where she called 911. When Peralta learned of the call, he said “no one is going to put him away again,” according to his arrest report, and put a pair of scissors to his throat, threatening suicide. The couple’s daughter had been sleeping in an upstairs bedroom when the screaming woke her up. She went downstairs to find her father on the couch and her brother and mother locked in a bedroom.

Peralta told authorities that his wife had been upset over her mental issues and had yelled at him from room to room until he pushed her in “self-defense” in the kitchen, as he kept telling her to stop yelling at him.

Deputies placed him under arrest. Peralta is being held on $11,000 bond. He is charged with aggravated battery, a second-degree felony, child abuse, a third-degree felony, and domestic battery, a misdemeanor. He faces a no-contact order regarding his wife and son, which means if he posts bail, he will not be allowed to return home during the pre-trial phase, unless a judge grants permission.