Man charged with assault after allegedly threatening neighbors
A local man was arrested on a felony assault charge early Friday after allegedly threatening his neighbors with a shotgun claiming they stole his dog.
Matthew Levi Frantom, 30, who lists a Sterling Circle address, was taken into custody shortly after 3 a.m. and charged with aggravated assault, punishable by up to six years in prison.
Frantom, who lists no prior felony history but had a warrant for misdemeanor failure to appear on a speeding charge, was later released on a $3,500 bond and is set to appear April 8 in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, shortly before 3 a.m. Friday, Garland County sheriff’s Cpl. Stacy Morgan and Deputy Heidi Bernard were dispatched to a residence in the 300 block of Sterling Circle regarding a disorderly man with a shotgun.
Deputies made contact with Frantom and a woman, 23, in the street in front of the residence and both reportedly admitted they had been drinking alcohol earlier and were “a little intoxicated.”
Frantom and the woman both said they believed the occupants of the trailer in the 300 block had gone into their residence in the 100 block of Sterling Circle and stole their pit bull dog.
Morgan made contact with a woman, 36, and man, 25, who were residents in the trailer and they walked deputies through the residence to show them Frantom’s dog was not there. The woman stated her children woke her and the man up “yelling that a strange man with a gun” was outside “beating and banging” on the side of the trailer and the front door.
The woman’s 15-year-old son told her the man was by the front door with a shotgun. The son stated Frantom had the gun pointed toward their front door and was yelling for them to give his dog back to him. She noted Frantom was “yelling loudly in a threatening manner” as he beat on their trailer.
The woman said her children were frightened and she yelled at Frantom that she was calling the police and he told her, “Go ahead and call them.” The son said he saw Frantom back away from the porch and rack the shotgun “as if to prepare to fire it.”
When questioned by Morgan, Frantom allegedly admitted to approaching the residence carrying a shotgun, again stating they “broke into my house and stole my dog.” He said they “are shady and I want my dog back.”
He told deputies he put the shotgun back in his residence before they arrived. The woman told deputies she felt threatened by Frantom and didn’t feel safe “with him next door.”