Judge Criticizes Low Bond and Denies Lowering it Further on 18-Year-Old in Flagler Beach Assaults

Perkins not only denied the lower bond. He took the unusual step of saying that the bond, set by Circuit Judge Chris France after Alo’s first court appearance, was “too low,” and “should be $100,000.” But a judge is barred by law from raising a bond or changing conditions on the same charges once set. (Notably, France did not have the benefit of what amounted to victim-impact statements, nor of Alo’s history, nor of the effect a half-full courtroom might have on the dynamics of a decision—which is partly why the law recognizes that one judge’s decision cannot be amplified by another, at least at this stage, with both sides still mobilizing elements of the case.)

Still, the reason Alo, 18, was seeking a lower bond is because neither she nor her family are in a position to post the $1,850 bail that would be required to bond out.

Bond hearings are usually routine, seldom drawing attention beyond the lawyers and defendants involved. Not today. Some 30 people filled the courtroom, including 24 people who’d turned out to support Kaitlin Dahme, the Flagler Beach resident who got run-over, and four who accompanied the 15-year-old victim, his mother among them.




Also unusual for a bond hearing, both Dahme and the 15-year-old boy’s mother addressed the court, asking that Alo’s bond not be lowered, and asking that she be placed on a GPS ankle monitor if she were to be released. They also sought no-contact orders. Such orders are almost always part of the first-appearance results, but no one in court today could figure out how such orders had been left out of that appearance. As with raising a bond amount, a judge is barred from imposing a no-contact order absent a new motion by the prosecution. Assistant State Attorney Tara Libby could had not filed such a motion, but said she would.

Alo and her brother, Nicholas Alo, 21, are accused of assaulting the 15 year old, who had been a friend of theirs on and off for two years. As one or the other Alo was allegedly pummeling the boy, Dahme, who lives across the street from the park and was being dropped off by her mother, rushed over to halt the assault and keep Gabrielle Alo from driving off. Instead, Alo backed over Dahme twice, severely injuring Dahme’s foot and ankle.

“Prior to being senselessly run over by Gabriella Alo,” I was working two jobs six days a week, going to the gym every day,” Dahme told the court. “I do a lot of yoga, taking my dog for walks along the beach. All things I can’t do anymore and don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do again. Gabriella had the opportunity to do the right thing. She thought about it for 17 seconds as my right knee was pinned under her front passenger tire. She chose to run over me again, and then left me for dead and acted as if she did nothing wrong. I’m now suffering from multiple injuries, the worst being a crushed ankle that could likely affect me for the rest of my life.”




Until the attack, Dahme had worked at Tortugas and Island Grill restaurants in Flagler Beach. “Just this far, I am $100,000 in debt and hospital bills. I can’t walk. I can’t work. I can’t even shower or dress myself. The road to recovery hasn’t been easy and it’s barely begun.”

Addressing the court, the mother of the 15 year old described how her son had befriended Gabriela Alo, had had a falling out with her, but then thought they had patched things up and were friends again the very day she allegedly assaulted him. He has “suffered immense mental struggles” as a result of believing that he had been back on good terms with Alo. “He’s also dealing with the immense guilt and struggles with knowing that the other victim put herself in the line of fire.” She had concerns that Alo, once freed, would seek to harm her son again.

Assistant Public Defender Regina Nunnally pre-empted Perkins, telling him she could not see the judge releasing Alo on her own recognizance. But she argued for a $10,000 bond, saying that Alo had shown the ability to be responsible following the months after her release from juvenile jail just last November (at least until the assault at Wickline Park). She had secured a vehicle, was living on her own (in an extended-stay motel in Jacksonville), had stopped doing drugs, and was working on getting a job with her father’s help. Her parents and two brother live in Palm Coast.

Assistant Public Defender Tara Libby ridiculed the claim, then went over Alo’s juvenile record which, since 2020, has been an aggregation of criminal charges, including a domestic violence battery charge for assaulting her mother, a burglary charge, and other charges. Then came the January incident.

“This is one of those cases where I would say that $100,000 is still too low,” Libby argued to the court. “Ms. Alo is a danger to the community. She’s been in Flagler County for four years and since 2020, she’s done nothing but commit crime.” Libby called Dahme “a true innocent bystander” and “a true hero.”




Perkins had been shocked by the case, but legally, his hands were tied. “I’m following the law. I’m doing what I’m supposed to do,” he said, after wishing the bond was at $100,000. “I think these bonds are low. I also think that a no-contact order would be appropriate. But again, I can’t add that to it.”

So in the end, Alo left the courtroom with her bond just what it was when she had walked in, and without a no-contact order. Even though she is at the Flagler County jail–where she had an unrelated incident and was tased by deputies, though she does not face additional charges from that–no-contact orders apply to phone calls as well, calls she could theoretically be making, though she’d be recorded.

Alo was ready to make a statement of her own to the court. Nunnally tried to dissuade her, but appeared unable to stop her. Then Perkins intervened, and told Alo that while she had every right to speak, it could potentially hurt her case. He recommended she follow her attorney’s advice. Alo, pausing a while, finally waved off her statement and remained silent.