Mugshot of Valmon Glasford Jr. Photo Credit: THE VIRGIN ISLANDS POLICE DEPARTMENT.
ST. THOMAS — A man is before the courts on domestic violence charges after reportedly going on a destructive rampage in his girlfriend’s home.
According to court documents, on Saturday July 1, about 10 minutes before 1 pm, VIPD officers were dispatched to a residence in Estate Smith Bay in reference to a disturbance. Responding officers met a woman who told them that she and her boyfriend, Valmon Glasford Jr. had woken up around 10:00 a.m. that morning, and when she went to put on a pair of bicycle shorts, she noticed a large hole in the garment.
Glasford reportedly told her that one of her other intimate partners had put the hole in the shorts, and according to the woman, that triggered a tirade of accusations that she brings men into the home while her boyfriend is sleeping inside.
The woman informed police that Glasford had written her a letter before being released from prison about two months ago, and demanded the correspondence. When she told him that it was her property, he reportedly became irate and began breaking objects and throwing items around the house while his girlfriend’s minor children screamed and begged him to stop.
The woman recounted how her boyfriend turned on the burners of her gas stove and left them running, how he slapped her in the face and pushed her against a railing in the living room, causing it to break. She told police that Glasford drank a bottle of rum that was in the pantry before breaking it. He then reportedly turned his attention to an empty wine bottle on top of the refrigerator and broke that too. While she and her children swept up the broken glass, Glasford reportedly continued throwing items around the home.
Despite this behavior, police say that when they arrived at the home, the woman told them that she did not wish to file a report. Nothing happened, according to her. However, she reportedly admitted that Glasford had instructed her to tell the officers that she was the one who had put the home in such disarray.
She also confided in officers that despite her continuous attempts to help Glasford, she realizes that she cannot. He refuses to take medication for his mental illness, she told police, and noted that he had previously violated a restraining order by coming to her home in March 2022, while on house arrest. In that matter which resulted in Glasford's arrest, the charges of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and kidnapping, aggravated rape, and using a deadly weapon were all dismissed in exchange for his guilty plea on a count of escaping custody. In May of this year, he was sentenced to four years in prison but was released on time served of just over one year, with the rest of the sentence suspended.
“The court will give the defendant another opportunity to make good on his promises,” reads the record of proceedings for Glasford’s sentencing hearing on May 4, 2023.
Two months after his release, police were at his girlfriend’s destroyed house as she told them that she was in fear for her and her children’s life, because Glasford does not respect the law. Glasford’s arrest record, stretching back to at least 2016 on charges including use of deadly weapons and assault, has resulted in several plea deals leading to dismissal of charges, suspended sentences, time served, and several stints of supervised probation, some of which were violated by arrests for new felonies.
Following his girlfriend’s complaint on Saturday, Valmon Glasford Jr. was arrested for at least the sixth time later that day. He declined to provide a statement without his attorney present. Charged with aggravated assault, destruction of property, and disturbance of the peace — all as crimes of domestic violence — he was remanded into custody until his advice of rights hearing on July 3.
In court on Monday, bail was set at $1,000. He was banned from the victim’s residence and ordered to contact the probation office once a week by telephone. His next court hearing is scheduled for July 21, 2023.
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