A Summerland Key man has been sentenced to prison for threatening two others with a gun.

KEY WEST, December 27, 2019 – On December 18, Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Mark Jones handed Joseph Skiver, 37, 24 months after Skiver pleaded no contest to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and aggravated assault with a firearm. Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist represented the state.

The incident happened on November 9, 2018. Early that afternoon, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to the Summerland Key Shell station after someone called in reporting the threat. After they arrived, one of the victims told them what happened – Skiver had continually lobbed obscenities at him — and who the suspect was, and that the suspect was a passenger in a nearby brown pickup truck.

They saw the truck and activated their siren and emergency lights to perform a traffic stop and as they did, the victim yelled out, “He has a gun! He has a gun!” The pickup headed north on U.S. 1 and was pulled over on Airport Drive.

Deputies approached and asked if there were any firearms in the truck and Skiver said yes; the deputies saw the handgun on the floorboard on the passenger side, where Skiver was sitting. Skiver did not have a conceal-carry permit.

Back at the Shell following the traffic stop, the initial victim and a second man there both told deputies Skiver displayed to them the gun in his waistband and that they felt in fear for their lives. Skiver, who denied displaying the weapon, was arrested.

Skiver has a previous conviction for preventing or obstructing extinguishment of fire.

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