Repeat troublemaker caught at Publix sentenced to six months in prison

A repeat driving offender caught at a Publix grocery store in The Villages last year has been sentenced to six months in prison.

Grant Mitchell Patterson III, 32, of Belleview, pleaded guilty last week in Sumter County Superior Court to a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. In addition to six months in prison, he was placed on 30 months’ probation and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.

Last September, a woman said she pulled into the Publix at Southern Trace Plaza around the time another Patterson also pulled into the parking lot, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. The woman wasn’t sure what sparked the road rage incident, but she became concerned when Patterson, whom she didn’t know, pulled into a parking lot near where she intended to park.

The woman said she rolled down the passenger window in an attempt to “smooth things out” with Patterson. However, he showed a “big knife” and called the woman a “fat bitch”. He threatened to slit her throat and said he would “kill her no problem.” She managed to take a photo of him and the license plate of his vehicle.

Patterson later returned to the store and was spotted by a deputy, who took him into custody.

In 2020 Patterson was arrested after displaying a knife during another road rage incident in The Villages. However, the prosecutor’s office withdrew charges in this case.