An Orlando firefighter, 47-year-old La Teef Williams, faces charges of stalking, witness tampering, and unlawful installation of a tracking device, according to the Cocoa Police Department. WESH reported that this is Williams' second arrest in less than three years, with his first encounter with law enforcement resulting from a threatening joke that involved a knife back in 2023.
Details emerged indicating that Williams was in the process of separating from the victim as of last Friday, as stated to officers. Despite not being given consent, he installed a tracking device on the victim's vehicle in October. WFTV noted that his history includes a non-prosecuted charge of battery on another firefighter in 2023.
The situation escalated when Williams persisted in appearing at the victim's workplace, prompting her to request that he be trespassed from the property. As the Cocoa Police Department describes, he left several notes on her vehicle, one of which read, "You have nowhere to go and no place to hide!! Return what you stole! You can be found!" Williams confessed to the police that he was indeed behind these menacing messages, as detailed by WESH.
Additional allegations include attempts by Williams to have the charges dropped, repeatedly contacting the victim for this purpose. The Orlando Fire Department, in a statement obtained by WESH, has expressed a serious stance on the matter, articulating that all department members are held to the utmost standards. The department has initiated an internal investigation, and Williams is on unpaid leave pending its outcome.
In the 2023 incident, reported by WESH, Williams had supposedly joked about the use of dish soap on a cast-iron skillet before restraining a fellow firefighter and simulating a threat to his throat with a knife. He was subsequently arrested for battery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Williams bonded out after that arrest for just over $3,500.
