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AEW star Daniel "Cash" Wheeler did not appear today but was arraigned before Florida's Orange County Court in Florida one charge of charge of aggravated assault with a firearm, a third degree felony in the Sunshine State.
The court set a trial date of 5/20 with a pre-trial hearing set for 5/7 The court issued an order today that Wheeler must appear on 5/7.
Wheeler's attorney entered a plea of not guilty. He was originally arrested in August 2023 after a warrant for his arrest was filed on 7/28/23. He originally filed a plea of not guilty via his attorney with the circuit court of Orange County, Florida on 8/3/23. Wheeler turned himself in on 8/17/23 and the next day was arraigned.
The prosecution has claimed that the July 2023 incident leading to Wheeler's arrest was "believed to be a road rage incident" and that during that incident, Wheeler allegedly "flashed a gun" at the other party. During his arraignment in summer 2023, Wheeler's attorney stated that he did not know the other party. The word victims, as in plural, was used during the proceedings.
Under Florida law, a conviction for aggravated assault with a firearm could lead to up to five years' imprisonment, five years' probation and a $5,000 fine.
Orange County in Florida released an incident report dated 7/27/23. Cpl. Mitchell Bowhay wrote the following in the report:
"On July 27, 2023, at 0959 I, Officer M. Bowhay #19932, responded to [REDACTED] in reference to an aggravated assault with a firearm call. Upon my arrival I spoke to the victim, Daniel Matta, who provided me with a sworn written/verbal statement that said the following: Matta stated he was driving west on Interstate 4 north of Exit 83. He noticed a Jeep Gladiator weaving in and out of traffic honking its horn, so he moved over to the far-right lane to let the Jeep pass. Matta said the Jeep took the right shoulder to drive around him on the passenger side of his vehicle. Matta looked over and noticed a white male with a beard pointing a black semi-automatic handgun out of the driver's window at him with a strong stare. Matta said he feared for his life at this time. Matta stated he slowed down to get out of the way of the firearm and ended up behind the suspect vehicle at this time.
At this time both were committed to exit 83 (Ivanhoe Blvd). Matta took pictures of the Jeep as it turned right onto College Park Drive and began to drive reckless. Matta said the Jeep beared Florida tag [REDACTED]. After taking the picture, Matta said he called 911 and gave the vehicle information to dispatch the details of what occurred. He explained he could not be late for work and asked an officer to meet him at his work [REDACTED].
I created a photo line-up using ELVIS (a database used by law enforcement for investigative purposes). Elvis selected five random photos based on the suspect's Florida driver's license picture Page 1 of 2 and put them in a randomized order with the suspect being the sixth picture. Officer Blinn #34211 met with Matta and presented him with the photo lineup instructions and the photo lineup. Matta quickly selected the correct picture, photo #2, of the suspect, later identified as, Daniel M. Wheeler, W/M D.O.B 5/17/1987 with 100% certainty. (See Officer Blinn's supplement for more details.) Based on Mattas sworn statement and the positive photo lineup identification, probable cause exist to charge Wheeler with, aggravated assault with a firearm violation of F.S.S. 784.021(1)(A)-1."
Note: PWInsider.com has chosen to redact several personal addresses as well as Wheeler's license plate number.
At the time of Wheeler's arrest last year, PWInsider.com reached out to AEW and received the following statement from the promotion:
"AEW has been made aware of the charge, and we are closely monitoring the situation. He is fully cooperating with local authorities."
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