Bottoni refused to obey commands to drop his firearm and kept threatening officers after one used a Taser on him, Sheriff’s Office reports
A 31-year-old Venice man, for whom an arrest warrant had been issued, died on Aug. 13 when he was shot by Sarasota County deputies after he threatened them with a firearm, the Sheriff’s Office has reported.
Anthony M. Bottoni, of 208 Golf Club Lane in Venice, was found to be inside his home when deputies with the Sheriff’s Office’s Fugitive Apprehension Unit and Patrol Division arrived at 10:58 a.m. on Aug. 13 to serve the warrant, a Sheriff’s Office news release says.
The officers “gave him verbal commands to exit [the residence],” the release adds. When Bottoni refused to do so, the release continues, “deputies forced entry” into the home. While they were inside, the release says, Bottoni “armed himself with a firearm.”
“Deputies moved to the back yard and requested SWAT and the Hostage Negotiation Team,” the release points out. “Minutes later,” it adds, Bottoni “exited the residence with a firearm.”
Although deputies gave him verbal commands to drop the weapon, the release says, “he refused,” at which point “a deputy used his Taser [on Bottoni].” That proved ineffective in stopping the threat, the release continues. (An April Probable Cause Affidavit involving charges against Bottoni described him as standing 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighing 280 pounds.)
Bottoni “then pointed his firearm at the deputies,” the release adds, “and gave them no option but to respond with deadly force.”
The release does point out, “Deputies attempted life-saving measures until the Sarasota County Fire Department (SCFD) arrived. SCFD continued life-saving measures until the subject was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
Drug charges result from April arrest
A Sarasota News Leader search of 12th Judicial Circuit Court records found that, on April 29, Bottoni was arrested and charged with three counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance without a Prescription, involving fentanyl, methamphetamine and a marijuana concentrate; one count of tampering with evidence; one count of driving while his license was suspended or revoked; and one count of possession and/or use of drug equipment.
His Probable Cause Affidavit in those cases said that the arrest took place at 11:52 p.m. at a Chase Bank on Jacaranda Boulevard in Venice. The document explained that, just before 7:35 p.m. on April 29, a deputy undertook an electronic search of the registration for a Chevrolet pickup truck he had spotted in the parking lot of the Arby’s located on Jacaranda Boulevard in Venice. The deputy learned that the registered owner was Bottoni, who possessed only a state identification card and who had had his license suspended since Sept. 23, 2024.
Shortly afterward, the affidavit continued, the deputy spotted Bottoni coming out of the Arby’s and climbing into the driver’s seat of the truck.
The deputy began following the truck, the affidavit added, eventually coming alongside his passenger window. The deputy noted that he as he observed Bottoni driving, the truck began making “jerking motions on the roadway as if [Bottoni] was attempting to hide something.”
After activating the emergency equipment on the Sheriff’s Office vehicle, the affidavit said, the deputy stopped the truck as it pulled into the parking lot of the Chase Bank on Jacaranda Boulevard.
With another deputy present, the deputy who stopped Bottoni on the license issue ended up searching Bottoni’s person, the affidavit noted. That was when the deputy found the marijuana concentrate and “a clear plastic baggie of methamphetamine,” which was full, the affidavit added. Bottoni claimed that the methamphetamine belonged to a friend, the affidavit continued; he said he had found it inside his truck.
After reading Bottoni his Miranda rights, the affidavit continued, the deputy kept searching Bottoni’s person. As the deputy was doing so, the affidavit added, the deputy saw that Bottoni was “clinching his buttocks and groin region” when the deputy asked him so spread his feet apart. A plastic baggie containing a powdery substance ended up falling from Bottoni’s groin region, the affidavit noted. When the deputy asked him whether the substance was fentanyl, Bottoni confirmed that it was, the deputy wrote. Bottoni added that he had bought it for $400, and it was supposed to “last him two months,” the affidavit said.
Later testing of the drugs confirmed that they were what Bottoni had told the deputy they were, the affidavit pointed out.
On April 30, 12th Circuit Court records note, Bottoni was released from jail on total bond of $8,150.
However, on Aug. 11, the pretrial services officer handling those cases issued an order that revoked Bottoni’s bond, the News Leader learned. A written document explained that Bottoni had “violated the terms and conditions” of his supervised release, having failed to check in by telephone with a court official since July 16.
Further, even though the special conditions for his release on bond were that he refrain from any contact with drugs and that he submit to a urinalysis once every two weeks, the document said, he had missed the urinalyses scheduled on July 24 and Aug. 5.
No bond initially would be set after he was taken back into custody, the document pointed out.
“A noncompliance letter has been mailed,” the document noted. “All attempts to contact Mr. Bottoni have been unsuccessful,” it added.
A News Leader search of 12th Judicial Circuit Court records found 19 other cases involving Bottoni, all but one of them involving traffic citations. The charges ranged from speeding, to “Knowingly Operating a Vehicle while Driver’s License Suspended/Canceled/Revoked, to careless driving and running a red light. They dated back to May 2013, the records showed.
The other charge was Petit Theft involving a value higher than $100 but less than $750. It resulted from a February 2024 incident in which Bottoni allegedly tried to pass “all points of sale [at a Walmart] with a grocery cart with miscellaneous groceries valued at $261.75,” that Probable Cause Affidavit said.
Video footage and photos from the store confirmed the allegation of the store’s loss prevention officer, the affidavit noted.
Bottoni fled from the scene, the affidavit added.
The State Attorney’s Office agreed to defer prosecution for six months, giving Bottoni time to comply with multiple stipulations, including refraining from committing other crimes and using drugs. He also was ordered to complete 25 hours of community service, though a note in that record indicated that he had the option of just paying $15 per hour for the 25 hours. That agreement was dated Jan. 7 of this year.
No other subsequent record was shown in that docket.