Cantonment Man Sentenced In Child Abuse Case

September 13, 2026

A Cantonment man was recenthly sentenced in an April 2026 case in which he allegedly threatened a woman and forced her vehicle off the road with a child inside.

Colton David Gideons, 27, pleaded no contest to charges of child abuse without great bodily harm, simple assault domestic-violence-related, and reckless driving. An additional charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon was dropped.

He was sentenced to six months of community control followed by 30 months of probation on the child abuse charge, along with six months’ probation on the assault and reckless driving charges to run concurrently with the child abuse sentence.

Gideons was also ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation, complete a domestic violence intervention program, and pay court costs and fines. The judge ordered that any contact with minors be controlled by a domestic violence injunction order, and all future child care and custody arrangements be arranged by a disinterested third party, not family or friends.

On April 11, Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a disturbance on Canal A Way in Perdido Key. An Escambia County Sheriff’s Office arrest report states Gideons lunged at a woman with a closed fist at a residence in Cantonment, stopping just inches from her face while making verbal threats, before following her to Perdido Key.

As the woman attempted to leave the residence in a truck, Gideons followed her aggressively in his own brown Dodge Ram truck, the report states. Gideons accelerated past her, swerved into her path, and slammed on his brakes. This maneuver caused the woman to lose control and spin her vehicle around in the roadway with a child in the vehicle.

The victim recorded the pursuit on her phone, which deputies noted in the report showed Gideons’ truck passing her very closely and causing her to spin out.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under TOP STORIES