Police: Man threatened, assaulted Naples hotel staff over face mask

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Justin Heath Mills. Credit: Naples Police Department

An Auburndale man was arrested early Wednesday for allegedly assaulting and threatening a pair of hotel staff members after his refusal to put on a face mask.

Justin Heath Mills, 24, was taken into custody at the Courtyard Marriott in Naples on US-41.

The clerk was working at the front desk when he claimed Mills entered the lobby without a mask. Mills shoved him in the chest, insulted him in vulgar language and threatened to spit on him. When the clerk moved back behind the desk, he says Mills followed him and struck him with his hand, knocking the glasses off the clerk’s face.

The clerk said he was going to call the police, to which he says Mills responded with a violent sexual threat. Mills returned to his hotel room.

The hotel manager, arriving at work, was told by the clerk that he had called the police on a guest who had hit and threatened him. The manager went to Mills’ room to order him off hotel property, which she says led Mills to scream obscenities at her and say he should kill her, at one point raising his fist as if to punch her.

The clerk shoved Mills away from the manager and Mills went to his vehicle before police arrived.

Mills remains in the Collier County Jail on one count of battery and two counts of assault.

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