A Florida man who goes by the nickname “Fat Boy” is behind bars after deputies say he threatened to “slice” a pregnant woman with a sword.
William Mendenhall, 43, was arrested Wednesday on charges relating to aggravated assault on a pregnant woman after deputies say an argument about a bicycle turned physical.
During the argument, Mendenhall armed himself with a three-foot metal sword and began slashing a tent that was set up in the side yard of his home in New Port Richey, according to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.
When the woman tried to stop him, Mendenhall — who police describe to be “heavy built” at six feet and 290 pounds — pushed her and said “he was going to hurt her,” according to the sheriff’s office.
He then chased her into his home and threatened to strike her with the sword.
Police refused to disclose his relationship with the woman.
Deputies say they arrested Mendenhall without incident and are holding him in the Land O’ Lakes jail with a bond set at $30,000.
Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health’s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald’s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow. Support my work with a digital subscription
