Alachua Man Faces Charges for Pepper Spray Attack and Probation Violation

On February 22, 2026, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) deputies arrested Jermaine Isiah Jacob, 36, and charged him felony battery. The battery was charged as a felony due to his prior battery convictions. The arrest report shows the incident occurred on Jacob’s birthday. 

Upon arriving at the scene, Deputy Kyle Sosa was informed by the witness that Jacob had maced (pepper sprayed) her mother (the victim) and recently left the location. 

The victim advised that Jacob maced her during a dispute related to cash app. 

The arrest report indicates that Jacob and the victim were friends prior to this incident and that Jacob sent her money on cash-app when they were hanging out. Jacob gave the victim a ride home to her house before leaving to pick up his girlfriend.

For an unknown reason, Jacob later tried to ask the victim to send him the money back. The victim told police she planned to send it back but did not immediately do so because her phone was dead. 

The victim told police that Jacob went to her front door and asked “Where’s my money?” Before the victim could answer, Jacob reportedly maced her.

The arrest report notes that even after showering and washing her face, the victim was still “visibly inflamed and swollen from the irritation of the pepper spray.” Her eyes were described as “visibly red and irritated.” 

The attack occurred in ACSO's jurisdiction and Jacob was later detained by the Alachua Police Department.

During a post Miranda interview with ACSO, Jacob reportedly “started by stating he had not been in Gainesville at all. He later advised he was last in Gainesville around [3:00 p.m.] before returning to Alachua. He continued to lie to deputies on scene until blatantly [we] exposed of his lies through the use of traffic cameras placing his vehicle in Gainesville around the time of the incident. It was only then that [he] began explaining that he, his girlfriend, and her two kids drove to the victim’s residence to get the money they were owed. He advised that the money they had been arguing over was indeed money he had sent the victim through Cashapp earlier that day. [Jacob] also stated it was there, at her residence, that the victim was pepper sprayed.”

Jacob was released shortly after his arrest upon posting a $10,000 bond set by Judge Meshon Rawls. Jacob was ordered to not contact the victim or posses any firearms.

In September 2025, Jacob was convicted of felony battery against the witness in this case for striking her in the eye and sentenced to two years of probation. On March 27, 2026, Jacob was arrested again after he allegedly violated court orders by making contact with her. The charges were dropped just four days later, however, Jacob remains in jail for allegedly violating his probation and the pepper-spray case is still open.

Back in 2010, Jacob was arrested for an alleged incident of aggravated battery but the charges were dropped because the victim didn’t want to prosecute, court records show.

The majority of Jacob’s battery convictions stem from incidents in 2019, the most serious being charges from an incident that occurred at the end of the year, for which he served prison time alongside other charges.

Jacob also has a pending sworn complaint for allegedly making purchases with a stolen credit card. However, he is not being actively prosecuted in this case.

Jacob has additional convictions for an early 2022 incident of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, property damage, intimidation and threatening a public servant. An ACSO deputy reported, "Jacob was extremely hostile and violent during transport to the Jail. Jacob stated multiple times that he was going to make me kill him. Jacob made several references to him making me crash the vehicle while on the way to the jail. Jacob kicked the door over ten times which violently shook the vehicle from side to side. While kicking the doors, Jacob stated that he wanted to break the door and make me chase him. Jacob also stated that he would pray I was killed during natural disaster and that he would make sure his boys knew my name. Jacob made several references towards my family after he saw a picture of family in my patrol vehicle. Jacob was acting so violently in the back of my patrol vehicle, I ran (code three) lights and siren to the jail. Upon arrival at the jail, I viewed the inside of the patrol vehicle door and it was noticeably bent, broken and deformed. The interior plastic pieces to the door were broken and displaced. I estimated the damages to the patrol vehicle door to be several hundred dollars' worth of damages."

Editor Notes: The above quote is edited for spelling and grammar.