Tarpon Springs Man Charged With Threatening Child, Grandmother: DOJ

TARPON SPRINGS, FL — A 22-year-old Tarpon Springs man has been arrested and charged with threatening a child and grandmother during a dispute with the child's father.

United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that Antonio McCray was charged during a court hearing on June 21 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Amanda Arnold Sansone and ordered to be detained pending his trial. If convicted, McCray faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison.

According to the complaint and evidence introduced during his detention hearing, on Oct. 29, McCray was a passenger in the backseat of a vehicle that was pulled over by deputies from the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office. The deputies seized a stolen loaded 9 mm Springfield "Hellcat" pistol that was stowed under the back side of the front passenger seat underneath McCray’s feet.

While executing a search warrant on McCray's gun, detection found various threatening text messages sent by McCray to a person who owed him money including, "listen bra if u care about ur son an ur grandma have my money by Thursday…or I’m coming for u n ur family.”

DNA swabs taken from the Hellcat pistol were a match to McCray.

Additionally, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement determined that the ammunition found in the pistol matched casings used in a recent drive-by shooting in Hernando County.