DeLand Stalking Suspect Re-Arrested After Jail Letters to Teen, Held Without Bond

A 27-year-old Lakeland man already accused of showing up armed at a Volusia County teenager's home is back behind bars — this time with no bond — after deputies say he kept contacting the 16-year-old girl from inside a jail cell by borrowing his cellmate's name. Joseph William Danger Woodard turned himself in overnight after Volusia County deputies issued a new warrant charging him with aggravated stalking, a third-degree felony under Florida law.

According to the Volusia Sheriff's Office, Woodard sent letters filled with graphic, romantic and delusional content to the teenager while he was locked up, using his cellmate's name to get around a court-ordered no-contact order. He bonded out of jail on August 19 after spending about two and a half weeks in custody following his initial arrest, per the sheriff's office. Deputies say the jail letters and gifts sent to the girl formed the basis of the new felony charge that put him right back in a cell — this time held without bond at the Volusia County Branch Jail.

The case began in late July, when Woodard allegedly showed up uninvited twice at a home north of DeLand belonging to a 16-year-old girl he had met on Snapchat, according to WTSP. The station reports the incidents took place on July 30 and July 31, with Woodard traveling roughly 100 miles from Lakeland in Polk County to confront the minor at her home.

A Foot in the Door and Gunfire in the Driveway

During one of the visits, Woodard put his foot in the doorway before the teen closed the door on him, according to WFTV. During a second incident, the girl was asleep when she heard a window rattle and saw Woodard outside, the station reports. Deputies said Woodard fired multiple gunshots into the ground outside the home, and investigators later found a spent shell casing in the driveway. The girl was not injured, according to the station's reporting.

Patrol deputies located and intercepted Woodard's vehicle — a red Toyota hatchback — along State Road 11 within 22 minutes of a 911 call from the residence, the sheriff's office said. Deputies stopped the car near the intersection of State Road 11 and State Road 40, about 11 miles from the home, as Woodard drove north toward Flagler County. He resisted deputies during the stop, according to the same account, before being detained.

Inside the vehicle, deputies reported finding two 9mm handguns, six Glock pistol magazines, about 350 rounds of 9mm ammunition, and seven spent shell casings. Woodard was initially charged with stalking, armed trespassing, resisting, discharge of a firearm on residential property, and discharge of a firearm from a vehicle, per the outlet's reporting.

What the New Felony Charge Means

Florida's aggravated stalking statute, Section 784.048, covers cyberstalking, stalking a child under 16, or violating a court-ordered no-contact order, and it carries up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine as a third-degree felony, according to FindLaw. Basic stalking without threats or other aggravating factors is only a first-degree misdemeanor under the same law. The original firearm-discharge charge Woodard faced also carries its own separate misdemeanor exposure — up to a year in county jail and a $1,000 fine — under Florida Statute 790.15, according to Musca Law.

The case underscores a legal gap that advocates and researchers have flagged in tech-fueled stalking cases: victims and even suspects can find ways to keep contact going even after a no-contact order is in place. A report from the Cyberbullying Research Center notes that Florida folds cyberstalking directly into its general stalking statute, defining it as electronic communication that causes substantial emotional distress without a legitimate purpose. Separately, a University of Central Florida study cited by CaseCracker found that 86% of young adult cyberstalking victims never reported their victimization to law enforcement, with more than half failing to even recognize the behavior as a crime.

Part of a Broader Pattern in Central Florida

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reported 518,720 online enticement reports in the first half of 2025 alone, up sharply from 292,951 during the same period the year before, according to MissingKids.org. The Woodard case follows a string of stalking and harassment arrests Hoodline has tracked across Volusia and Flagler counties this year, including a Palm Coast digital stalking case and a Port Orange man booked into the same Volusia County Branch Jail after a yearlong call harassment campaign.

Several open questions remain in Woodard's case. It is not yet clear whether additional charges will be filed over the alleged use of his cellmate's name to send the jail letters, what conditions were set at his initial bond hearing, or exactly how investigators traced the correspondence back to him. For now, Woodard remains held without bond at the Volusia County Branch Jail on the new aggravated stalking warrant.