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Internet beau gets 29 months

After meeting his online pen pal's parents, an ex-con made unwelcome advances and pulled a knife.

By MICHAEL KRUSE
Published October 12, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - Joshua Ray Collier and Sandra Snell met on the Internet. They talked back and forth for a while and then decided to get together in person one night last January. Collier went over to meet the parents at the Snell place in northwest Hernando County.

First there was the rubbing. That was no good.

Then there was the 6-inch knife. That was even worse.

This is how Collier, 26, slim and buzz-cut with tattoos on both sides of his neck, ended up standing in a red jail jumpsuit in the courtroom of Circuit Judge Jack Springstead on Tuesday morning. He pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to 29 months in prison.

"They set up for him to come to the house, and it kind of went south from there," prosecutor Rob Lewis said. "It's a great argument against Internet dating. What an absolute nightmare."

"They'd been corresponding over the Internet for months, I think, and then he came to visit her," said David Bauer, Collier's public defender. "And he ended up in jail."

The incident happened Jan. 21. According to the report from the Hernando County Sheriff's Office and written statements taken that night, Collier got into a car with the Snells - Sandra, mom Lori, dad Ronald - and the Snells' friend, Stacey Flinn, who lived in Beverly Hills in Citrus County at the time but now lives in Plymouth, Mass. Ronald Snell was driving, Lori Snell was sitting shotgun, and Collier was in the back with Flinn and Sandra Snell, who is in her early 20s.

They were riding near the intersection of U.S. 19 and Centralia Road.

Collier started rubbing Lori Snell's shoulders and arms.

She told him to stop.

Then he put his hands around her neck.

She told him to STOP!

Out came the knife. It had a fixed blade but was sheathed.

Collier waved it around.

"I'll take care of all of you," he shouted.

There was commotion. Lori Snell managed to snatch the knife from Collier.

Ronald Snell stopped the car, got out, went around to Collier's door and pulled him out.

"I'm going to mess you up!" Collier hollered.

"Come on! Let's box!"

Collier tried to pull Ronald Snell's shirt off, then tore it off, then punched him.

Sandra Snell called 911.

Collier saw that and started running toward U.S. 19.

The rest of them got back into the car and sped away.

Collier was arrested not far from there a short time later.

Ronald and Sandra Snell were in the courtroom early Tuesday morning but left well before the start of the hearing. The Snells' phone number has been changed to one that is unlisted.

Collier, whose last listed address is in Phoenix, was told Tuesday at the hearing that he couldn't have any contact with the victims during the period of his sentence. The sentence guidelines called for 29 months because of his criminal record in Arizona, which includes burglary, grand theft, aggravated assault and felony DUI. He got out of prison there in November 2004.

"After the fact, they were telling me, 'I think this guy had an agenda,' " Lewis, the prosecutor, said of the Snells. "It's kind of freaky. You start thinking what this guy could have done."

Michael Kruse can be reached at mkruse@sptimes.com or 352 848-1434.

[Last modified October 11, 2006, 20:32:13]