Man Rearrested on Burglary and Assault Charges After Allegedly Attacking Mother In Front of Her Children

Less than three years ago, Jeffery Ricky Ray, a 34-year-old resident of 10 Rosecroft Lane in Palm Coast, was released from state prison after his second stint there. He’d served four years on convictions for burglary, assault, grand theft and false imprisonment. In the early 2000s, he’d served less than two years on a drug-related conviction.

On Wednesday, Ray was back at the Flagler County jail on a long list of charges that include the sort of charges that had landed him in prison a few years ago: burglary of an occupied dwelling and aggravated battery: this time he is accused of attacking a young, 28-year-old mother, beating her up and breaking her teeth in front of her children while asking for money.

But the victim and the alleged assailant know each other: they’ve been intimately involved since last December, and live in the same house, which the victim had left to go to her mother’s.

A Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy responded to that home in Palm Coast’s W Section in late afternoon on June 28. The victim’s mother had called police. She told a deputy that she’d heard a commotion in the back bedroom where her daughter and her children were. The children are a 9-year-old girl and two boys, 7 and 3.

When the victim’s mother entered the room, she said she found Ray, “who did not have permission to enter the residence,” according to his arrest report, “punching and kicking her daughter.” Ray then fled out the sliding back door, got into a silver car and drove off. At that point the victim’s mother called 911.

The victim was bleeding from her left eyebrow, nose and mouth when the deputy made contact with her. She was bruised on her left shoulder. But she declined medical attention. She told the deputy she did not want to make a written statement. She did not want to give Ray a hard time, she told the deputy, “due to the fact he was just released from jail,” according to Ray’s arrest report.

The victim was not referring to Ray’s release from state prison in 2013, but to his release on bond from the Flagler County jail just a few days ago: he was arrested on June 21 on charges of cocaine possession with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a church, heroin sale, driving on a suspended license and other minor charges. Selling drugs near a church jacks up the charge to a first-degree felony. He also initially fled from a cop when first pulled over, running on foot. When stopped, he was found with over $1,120 in cash. Still, he posted $32,000 bond and was released.

Then came the alleged violent confrontation in Palm Coast’s W Section. Though the victim would not provide a written statement, she told cops that Ray had entered the house through a sliding door then started beating her while demanding that she give him money she allegedly owed him. Her children, she said, entered the bedroom and saw him beating her. The victim then told the cop that she herself was restricted from seeing her children and had been barred from her mother’s house. (Adjudication was withheld on a drug-possession charge three years ago.)

When deputies confronted Ray at his home in the R-Section, he denied having anything to do with the confrontation, but the victim’s mother identified him.

Two additional second degree felonies were added to Ray’s list of charges from earlier in June. He remains at the Flagler County jail on $32,500 bond on the newer charges, but his bond on the earlier charges has been revoked, which means he may not bond out again without an order from a judge.