Crime & Safety

Jilted Lover Attacks Rival with Sword

Pasco County Sheriff's deputies say a 27-year-old New Port Richey man posed as his girlfriend in a text to lure the victim to his home prior to the attack. The man thought his girlfriend had been raped by the victim, deputies said.

A 27-year-old New Port Richey man faces aggravated battery and assault charges after Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies say he used a sword to attack a man he thought raped his girlfriend.

The incident unfolded June 7 around 12:54 a.m. when a sheriff’s office report says Matthew Thomas Howard, 27, of 5418 Portola Ave. texted the victim posing as a woman.

Howard’s girlfriend had told him that she had been raped by the victim. Deputies, however, say that claim turned out to be unfounded and relations between the girlfriend and victim were “consensual.”

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“Matthew asked the victim to come to the house for sex while posing as his girlfriend,” Deputy Royce Rodgers wrote in the report. “When the victim arrived and came inside through the front door, Matthew came in through the back door and threw two punches at the victim.”

The attack didn’t stop there, Rodgers wrote.

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Howard then picked up a sock containing “a heavy metal object” and struck the man in the right cheek. The man fought back and Howard then grabbed a “large metal sword and started swinging it,” the report said.

The victim was able to run out the back door and call for help.

Howard admitted to throwing the punches and swinging the sock and sword, Rodgers wrote. He was charged June 7 with aggravated battery and aggravated assault and was later released from the Land O’ Lakes Jail on $15,000 bond, according to jail records.

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