Friend-with-benefits facing several charges of violence against woman, her brother

(As originally published with bells and whistles, Wed, May 4th 2022, 5:13 AM EDT)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — “They aren’t officially dating but they do and have been having sex with each other for over two years and he comes over to visit her frequently.”

He’s the only guy she’s seeing right now, “and she gave him a key to her apartment, and he’s allowed to come and go as he pleases.”

They seemed to have a good thing going, so what went terribly wrong that their relationship got written up in an arrest report?

The woman told West Palm Beach police that Cedric Brown, 31, got upset with her because she wouldn’t stop calling his cellphone. The reason she did that: He owed her more than $400.

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According to the arresting officer, the money was from her income tax refund. She needed the money back, and he hadn’t given it to her.

The arrest report said that early on the morning of April 11, she “called Brown’s phone several times and informed him to pay her back and Brown became upset with her and hung up the phone.”

Then, she was sitting inside her bedroom with her brother and another friend who “she refused to identify” when she heard the back door unlock and open.

The victim told police Brown went in and walked to her bedroom. She said he was upset and threw the key she’d given him at her, and said, “Stop calling my f______ phone.”

Then, police said she told them, he “reached into his pants and pulled out a green handgun and cocked the gun back to place a round in the chamber and pointed it directly at her and stated, ‘I’ll kill all y’all up in this b____.’”

The arrest report continued, “She was sitting down on her mattress at the time of the firearm being pointed directly at her and she was in fear for her life because she felt Brown was going to shoot her.”

But he “placed the gun back inside of his pockets and walked over to the mattress where she was seated and snatched her cellphone from off of the bed that was laying directly in front of her. Brown then took the phone inside of the kitchen and continuously began to throw the phone at the ground attempting to break the cellphone. [The victim] advised Brown smashed the phone on the ground repeatedly and unknown number of times completely breaking her cellphone.”

The victim told police she saw “multiple pieces of glass shattered on the kitchen floor from her cellphone. [She] advised due to the amount of force he was slamming her phone to the ground with the cellphone ricocheted upwards and broke off a piece to the sliding kitchen pantry door. Brown once done destroying her cellphone walked back out the back door to the residence and began to walk towards the front of the residence. [She] followed behind Brown and Brown turned around with the green handgun in his hand and stuck her in the back of the head right side with the firearm. [She] stated after being struck against her own will with the firearm she froze up in fear and ceased following behind Brown. [She] then advised Brown got into his vehicle and fled the scene. [She] advised this incident was all captured on her landlord’s Ring video camera and her in-home video surveillance system.”

The police officer investigating talked to the victim’s brother who said he was visiting his sister “and they were hanging out in her bedroom.”

He added that when Brown “placed the firearm back inside of his pocket and shoulder-rushed [the brother] back against the wall as he forcefully approached [the victim] as she sat down on the mattress inside of the bedroom.”

He also said, “He had a photo of the gun being pointed to his sister’s head taken from the in-home security system and he emailed it to police. [He] advised when he observed the gun pointed at his sister’s head he was placed in fear for her life because he felt Brown was going to kill her. [He] advised he didn’t pursue Brown outside and didn’t observe his sister get struck with the firearm, but it should have been captured on the landlord’s video surveillance system. It should be noted while conducting my investigation with [the brother] I was informed Brown had access to the video surveillance system and was actively watching police on scene conduct their investigation and deleting videos from the incident. [The victim] took a look at the security system storage feed and the video was deleted from the system.”

But the victim was able to give police Brown’s personal information and they said his name and date of birth matched their records. She said he “was ex-military and possibly suffered from PTSD.” Then, she confirmed his identity with a picture from a police computer.

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By then, the officer wrote about establishing probable cause for Brown’s arrest and had police units sent to Brown’s last known address. One said they saw a car like his in front and the officer urged “caution due to intel Brown was possibly armed with a firearm. It should be noted a brief pursuit ensued and we left the residence to assist with apprehending Brown. Police set up a perimeter in the immediate area of 30th Street all the way north to 36th Street and Greenwood. … Brown was eventually apprehended by police.”

The officer added in the arrest report, “Due to Brown intentionally breaking [the victim]’s cellphone he deprived her of the ability to immediately notify 911 and alert law enforcement that multiple serious felonies occurred inside of her residence from her cell phone.”

Then, according to police, “Post Miranda, Brown admitted to knowing he committed several of the above crimes and wasn’t going to stop for police, so he ran away intentionally from police.”

He is charged with armed burglary of a dwelling/structure, robbery with a firearm, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, two counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony, resisting an officer without violence, and tampering with a witness or victim.

Brown was booked on April 11 at 7:09 p.m. and released in lieu of $14,000 bail — $2,000 for each charge — on April 13 at 3 a.m.