St. Johns County teen beat girlfriend, called her 200 times after incident, police say

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — An 18-year-old man is accused of beating his 17-year-old girlfriend -- and then harassing her by calling and texting her repeatedly, even after he was ordered to stop.

Christian Ware is accused of slamming her head into a steering wheel and punching her arms and body after she met him on Jan. 27 to end their relationship.

The victim's friends told her grandmother, and police were called. However, the victim told officials that day that nothing happened because Ware threatened to hurt her if police were called.

The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office worked with a St. Augustine High School resource officer after being approached by the victim and friends.

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The bruises became more visible and began to hurt more over the weekend, the victim told deputies. The victim's friends called authorities over the weekend, but the victim's phone was off and she couldn't be found, SJSO said.

The victim and her friends went to the resource officer on Jan. 30 and reported the incident.

According to the police report, the victim bruises on her left and right arms, one in the shape of a fist. She also had scrapes on her knuckles from defending herself.

The victim told deputies Ware beat her and threw her down several times since they began dating.

Deputies said Ware called or texted her from his phone, other private or blocked numbers and other friends' phones more than 200 times since the incident on Friday. Ware called the victim more than 40 times during the school day on Monday, deputies said.

The deputy answered the victim's phone during the investigation and told him to stop calling, but he called another 13 times before the phone was turned off, SJSO said. Ware refused to speak with the deputy about the investigation, SJSO said.

Ware is charged with child abuse and harassing phone calls.

Ware's family and Ware himself, posing as family, have begun to contact the victim to drop the charges, SJSO said.

Several other students have reported to deputies that they know of other previous girlfriends of Ware who were physically abused, some more severely than the victim. SJSO is looking into the reports and will notify the Department of Children and Families if necessary.

Cox Media Group