A 22-year-old Georgia man is facing two felony charges after University of North Florida police say he followed a student with autism into a campus dormitory, cornered him in a locked bathroom stall, and refused to let him leave for 10 minutes while recording video. Jack LaRoche was arrested on August 21 and has since bonded out of the Duval County jail.
According to WJXT News4JAX, the student first noticed an unknown man following him outside a campus dorm shortly before 4 p.m. on August 21. The student told police he went to a friend's room and then a lobby bathroom while the man kept following him, and it was there, inside a locked stall, that LaRoche allegedly cornered him. Surveillance video reviewed by police showed LaRoche entering the bathroom at 3:45 p.m. and leaving at 3:59 p.m.
Per the student's account to police, LaRoche demanded the student's phone number and then called it to confirm it was real. He allegedly ordered the student to set a 10-minute timer on his phone and remain inside the stall until it expired, threatening to come back and get him if he left early. The student told police LaRoche put him in a headlock and flicked him repeatedly in the face during the ordeal, and investigators later documented minor abrasions on the student's nose and swelling on his cheeks. The student's glasses were broken in the process, and he stayed in the stall until the timer ran out before driving himself to the police station.
Suspect Initially Gave a False Name
When officers found a man matching the suspect's description walking near campus, he initially denied being inside a campus building at all and identified himself as Jack Jones, per the police report cited by the same outlet. LaRoche later gave his real name and, after officers showed him the surveillance footage, acknowledged entering a building and using a bathroom, according to the arrest affidavit. He denied having any contact with the victim even after admitting he had been inside, and told investigators he was on campus to make YouTube content and was fooling around.
UNF police filed a report detailing the arrest and the allegations. LaRoche now faces charges of false imprisonment of an adult, abuse of a disabled adult without causing great bodily harm, and giving a false name or identification to law enforcement. He is from Kingsland, Georgia, a Camden County town just three miles north of the Florida border and roughly 36 miles from the Jacksonville campus, according to background compiled by Wikipedia.
What the Charges Carry Under Florida Law
Both of LaRoche's felony counts are third-degree felonies under Florida law. Abuse of a disabled adult without great bodily harm carries up to five years in state prison and a $5,000 fine under Florida Statute § 825.102(1). False imprisonment, defined under Florida Statute § 787.02 as forcibly or by threat confining another person against their will without legal authority, also carries up to five years behind bars. The misdemeanor charge for giving a false name to a law enforcement officer while detained carries up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine under Florida Statute § 901.36.
LaRoche is expected to appear at an arraignment on September 14. It remains unknown whether investigators recovered any video LaRoche allegedly recorded of the student inside the stall, or what YouTube channel or platform he said he was filming for.
A Pattern Seen Beyond Florida
Cases of content creators filming non-consensual pranks on college campuses have led to felony charges elsewhere before. A 2020 incident at UC Irvine resulted in felony false imprisonment charges and a court-ordered campus ban for the influencers involved, according to Courthouse News. Whether LaRoche will face any conditions barring him from UNF property remains an open question ahead of his arraignment.
Campus Support and Local Context
UNF has run its THRIVE program since 2012 through its Student Accessibility Center, offering free social, career, and independent-living support to degree-seeking students on the autism spectrum, according to the university. The university's most recent annual security report, covering 2023 and released in September 2024, showed an overall decline in reported violent crimes on campus, though campus police have noted that violent offenses are often underreported both locally and nationally, per UNF Spinnaker.
The case adds to a string of recent incidents involving autistic individuals and law enforcement or institutional response across the Jacksonville area. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office's 2024 annual report counted 2,966 missing-person investigations in Duval County, including 113 involving people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Just weeks before this arrest, Hoodline reported that a Jacksonville man with autism went missing after a Duval jail release, while a separate case in May involved a Duval Schools coach reassigned over an alleged altercation with a student in a specialized autism program.
