A Florida man has been arrested for repeatedly aiming his sprinklers at students with disabilities going to and from a bus stop near his house.
Antonio Roman, 61, was first accused of harassing his next door neighbors in Ocala nearly four months ago, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release Tuesday.
“The victims advised that since August 8, 2024, Roman has consistently activated his sprinklers twice a day when two of the victims, who have special needs, were loaded and unloaded from the school bus,” the sheriff’s office said. “The father had begun wearing swimming attire to shield his children from Roman’s sprinklers.”
According to an arrest warrant obtained by NBC News, one of the victims is a 17-year-old who’s cognitively impaired from a rare genetic disorder known as Prader-Willi syndrome. The other is a 22-year-old who suffers from autism and Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome, another genetic condition. The father also has a leg amputation, according to the warrant.
A subsequent investigation into the incidents, including surveillance of Roman’s residence, confirmed the sprinkler system “was directly aimed at the school bus stop [and was] activated when the bus arrived and deactivated as soon as it left the area,” police said.
The family told authorities they estimated the students had been sprayed by water some 400 times. They said Roman was upset by the location of the bus stop and tried but failed to get it moved by both the school district and a homeowners association.
When speaking to police, Roman told them he “did not like that [the bus stop] utilized part of his driveway for the wheelchair ramp one of the victims needed.”
He also admitted to using a surveillance system to track the arrival and departure of the bus to intentionally activate the sprinklers.
After obtaining the warrant for his arrest, police charged Roman with four counts of stalking, two counts of battery and two counts of battery on a disabled person.
Roman had been out of state since the warrant was issued was June, but he was arrested on Sunday upon returning to his home in Ocala.
He was taken to the Marion County Jail, though inmate records show he was released on Tuesday.
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