Gainesville Man Arrested After Threatening to Break Into Peaceful Paths, Released on Bond
Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officers arrested Joshua Aaron Simmons, 25, Friday and charged him with misdemeanor domestic stalking.
According to the arrest report, last week the victim left Simmons by writing a note because she feared for her safety.
The victim told police that a little over a month ago, Simmons threatened to shoot her while holding a firearm if she didn’t let him go through her phone. During the incident, Simmons reportedly punched holes in the walls and destroyed the victim’s phone. The police were not contacted, and Simmons and the victim continued living together until the circumstances of their relationship pushed her to leave.
The victim was able to seek asylum from her abusive relationship with help from the Peaceful Paths organization.
On June 27, Peaceful Paths employees informed police that Simmons had attempted to call them three times, demanding to know if the victim was staying with their shelter.
After speaking with multiple employees, Simmons reportedly said he was going to find the victim by physically going to Peaceful Paths. "This caused the entire Peaceful Paths location to be place on an alert," according to the arrest report.
The victim told police she blocked Simmons but that he gained access to her Gmail account and may have seen messages between her and Peaceful Paths.
GPD Officer Carl Leibrandt made contact with Simmons over the phone, and he agreed to meet in person.
Leibrandt reported, “[Simmons] admitted to calling Peaceful Paths three times and demanding to speak with the victim and to confirm that she was at the location. He also admitted to accessing the victim's email address without her permission and seeing the emails between her and Peaceful Paths and obtaining her physical location that way. When I asked him about the [gun threat] incident in May of 2025, he stated that he does have ‘anger issues’ and admitted to punching holes in the wall and shattering the victim's cell phone but denied pointing a firearm at her. During our conversation, he also admitted to me that the victim had informed him that she was leaving for her safety... She never informed him of her location and blocked him... [Simmons] also admitted he had planned to follow through with physically going to Peaceful Paths until he was instructed by his lawyer not to.”
Simmons was released from jail on a $15,000 bond, court records show.
