A Florida man just learned the hard way that targeting disabled children comes with serious consequences

Some stories make you wonder what’s wrong with people.

This one takes the cake for sheer cruelty and cowardice.

And a Florida man just learned the hard way that targeting disabled children comes with serious consequences.

Antonio Roman spent a year terrorizing special needs kids at their bus stop

Here’s a grown man – 61-year-old Antonio Roman of Ocala, Florida – who decided his property rights were more important than basic human decency.

For nearly a year, this guy sat inside his house watching surveillance cameras, waiting for the moment two disabled children would arrive at their school bus stop.

The second they showed up? He’d manually activate his sprinkler system to drench them.

We’re not talking about an accident here. Roman positioned his sprinklers to aim directly at the bus stop. He’d turn them on the moment the kids arrived and shut them off the instant the bus pulled away.¹

Marion County Sheriff’s deputies confirmed this happened twice a day – morning and afternoon – for approximately 400 incidents since August 2024.²

https://twitter.com/TrueCrimeUpdat/status/1958109665386275058

Think about that for a second. Four hundred times this man deliberately soaked disabled children.

The victims? A 17-year-old with Prader-Willi syndrome and a 22-year-old with autism and Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome. One of them uses a wheelchair.³

Their father, who has a prosthetic leg, eventually started wearing swimming attire just to shield his kids from Roman’s daily attacks.⁴

“It’s not like he is parking on your lawn. He is in the street. If he is blocking your driveway, he’s not there more than a few minutes at most and he’s gone. So I don’t see the reason for that,” neighbor Leroy Harris told local media.⁵

Roman’s excuse makes the whole thing worse

When Marion County Sheriff’s Corporal Kyle Ferguson finally confronted Roman, the man actually admitted everything.

His big complaint? The wheelchair ramp on the school bus occasionally extended into part of his driveway.⁶

That’s it. That’s what drove this man to wage a year-long campaign of harassment against disabled children.

Roman told deputies his complaint centered on the wheelchair ramp that one of the children needed, which briefly extended near his property line during boarding.⁷

He confessed to watching for the bus through his cameras and hitting the sprinkler controls, complaining the bus stopped too close to his property.⁸

Lt. Paul Bloom with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office didn’t mince words about Roman’s behavior.

“His big beef was over the school bus pulling up to pick up special needs children,” Bloom said. “When they had to lower a wheelchair ramp, it would come over on his side, towards his driveway, so this child could load up onto the school bus.”⁹

“Somewhere in his heart, there is 0% compassion, so we thought the best thing to do was bring him here [the jail] and give him a lot of other neighbors – inside of a jail cell. He’s going to have learn to get along with other people,” Bloom added.¹⁰

The father’s response has gone viral for good reason

What really struck a nerve online was the father’s reaction when he finally confronted Roman.

According to witnesses, the dad shouted “Not my children!” – a line that’s already making the rounds on social media as parents everywhere relate to that protective instinct.¹¹

And you know what? Good for him. This father dealt with wearing swim clothes to protect his disabled kids for months before authorities could gather enough evidence to arrest Roman.

The family meticulously documented the harassment, providing surveillance footage and detailed accounts that helped deputies build their case.¹²

Deputies actually conducted their own surveillance of Roman’s property and witnessed the sprinkler system activating precisely when the school bus arrived, then shutting off immediately when it departed.¹³

Roman’s arrest shows actions have consequences

On August 17, 2025, Roman was finally arrested and charged with four counts of stalking, two counts of battery on a disabled person, and two counts of battery.¹⁴

Battery on a disabled person is a felony in Florida – as it should be.¹⁵

Roman posted a $4,000 bond and is due back in court on September 16.¹⁶

Court records show this wasn’t Roman’s first issue with these neighbors. He’d called law enforcement more than 75 times between June 2023 and mid-2025 to complain about the same family.¹⁷

Think about that pattern. This guy was so obsessed with his neighbors that he called the cops on them 75 times. When that didn’t work, he escalated to physically harassing disabled children.

Look, property rights matter. Nobody’s saying they don’t. But there’s something deeply wrong with a person who thinks a wheelchair ramp temporarily using a few feet of their driveway justifies terrorizing disabled kids.

The fact that Roman spent months – months! – sitting inside watching cameras just to activate sprinklers at the exact moment these children were vulnerable tells you everything you need to know about his character.

As one commenter put it perfectly: “You can tell a lot about a man by the size of his enemies.”¹⁸

Roman chose disabled children as his enemies. That says it all.

This case should serve as a reminder that targeting the vulnerable isn’t just morally reprehensible – it’s criminal. And in Florida, at least, it comes with serious consequences.

¹ Marion County Sheriff’s Office, “Press Release: Man Arrested for Battery on Disabled Persons,” MCSO, August 19, 2025.

² Ibid.

³ Edmond Thorne, “Man in Florida Investigated for Yearlong Harassment of Disabled Neighbors with Sprinklers & Cameras,” Florida News Network, August 20, 2025.

⁴ WFTV, “Marion County man arrested after using sprinklers on disabled children, deputies say,” WFTV Orlando, August 19, 2025.

⁵ Ibid.

⁶ Marion County Sheriff’s Office, “Press Release: Man Arrested for Battery on Disabled Persons,” MCSO, August 19, 2025.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ WESH, “Man accused of using sprinklers to soak special needs students at bus stop,” WESH Orlando via CNN, August 21, 2025.

¹⁰ Ibid.

¹¹ Jeremy Harris, “Insane Florida Man Arrested After Using Sprinklers on Disabled Kids, Dad Screams ‘Not My Children!’” Florida Tribune, August 20, 2025.

¹² Edmond Thorne, “Man in Florida Investigated for Yearlong Harassment of Disabled Neighbors with Sprinklers & Cameras,” Florida News Network, August 20, 2025.

¹³ Marion County Sheriff’s Office, “Press Release: Man Arrested for Battery on Disabled Persons,” MCSO, August 19, 2025.

¹⁴ Ibid.

¹⁵ Florida Statutes, Title XLVI, Chapter 784, Section 784.08.

¹⁶ Jake Grissom, “Florida Man Accused Of Targeting Disabled Children With Sprinkler System At Bus Stop,” Florida Today, August 19, 2025.

¹⁷ Edmond Thorne, “Man in Florida Investigated for Yearlong Harassment of Disabled Neighbors with Sprinklers & Cameras,” Florida News Network, August 20, 2025.

¹⁸ Henry Cesari, “Florida man used sprinklers, cameras to spray disabled kids at school bus stop,” American Tribune, August 19, 2025.