Titusville man charged with aggravated battery

A Titusville man was arrested Sunday after police said he used his girlfriend's stuffed animal to try to manipulate her into having sex with him before he choked her and threatened to kill her.

James Matthews, 20, faces charges of aggravated battery causing bodily harm and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. His girlfriend told Titusville police Matthews would not return the Teddy bear her deceased grandmother had given her if she did not have sex with him.

The two began arguing in Matthews' home on Barna Avenue in Titusville, according to police. Matthews is accused of pushing the woman into a wall in the hallway and then telling her to leave the house, according to police reports.

When she started packing her clothes, another argument ensued and Matthews began choking her, police report.

The woman told police Matthews choked her for one minute before letting go. During an initial investigation, police said the woman had an abrasion on her neck.

Matthews also is accused of retrieving a knife from the kitchen and telling the woman he would cut the head off her stuffed animal, according to police reports.

She said he told her he was going to stab her and chop her "into little pieces," according to an arrest report.

The woman fled the home, police said.

When police apprehended Matthews at a Best Western hotel on Cheney Highway in Titusville, he denied choking or threatening his girlfriend. He told police he grabbed the knife to kill himself.

Matthews is being held at the Brevard County Jail on a $30,000 bond.

The Florida Domestic Abuse Hotline is 1-800-500-1119. This line is monitored seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Sheets is a breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Sheets at 317-444-3208

or tsheets@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @sheets_tess