Deputies in Daytona Beach said the man tried to win sympathy over his son’s death before they learned who he was.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A man convicted in Ohio in the 2015 death of his 2-month-old son was arrested during spring break patrols in Volusia County after deputies said they discovered he was wanted as a parole violator and heard him speak about the child’s death without saying he had caused it.

Anthony Benjamin Grove, 44, had been listed by Ohio authorities as a violator at large after his release from prison in 2023. His arrest on March 21 brought together two timelines: the old Canton case in which he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and child endangering, and a new Florida encounter that led to fresh local charges while Ohio authorities prepared to seek his return.

Deputies were working heightened spring break patrols in the Daytona Beach area when they came across two men near a seawall, according to accounts later given by Volusia County officials. The contact began with an open-container issue involving another man, but officers also asked Grove for his name and began checking his information. Chief Deputy Brian Henderson later said he tried to make conversation and asked whether Grove had children. Grove answered that he had two children and that one had died, Henderson said, prompting a moment of sympathy before deputies realized who they were dealing with. Henderson said the exchange angered him because, in his telling, Grove omitted that he had been convicted in the baby’s death. Video released by the sheriff’s office showed Grove speaking calmly with deputies before he was taken into custody.

By the time deputies finished the records check, Ohio authorities had already flagged Grove as wanted for violating the terms of his supervision. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s public offender record listed him as on Adult Parole Authority supervision and as a violator at large. Florida authorities said he also faced charges there, including failure to properly register as a convicted felon and possession of cannabis under 20 grams. Some reports also described a THC vape pen found in his backpack. Officials publicly tied the arrest to the large law enforcement presence assigned to Volusia County’s coast during the busy spring break period. What remains unclear from the public record is exactly when Grove left Ohio, what specific parole terms investigators say he broke first, and whether additional Florida counts could follow from the same encounter.

The Ohio case that put Grove in prison dates to Feb. 9, 2015, in Canton. Authorities said he threw a ceramic coffee mug during an argument with the child’s mother while she was holding their infant son, Zeeland. The mug missed the mother and struck the baby in the head. The child was taken from Canton to Akron Children’s Hospital and died afterward. Grove was first charged with murder, but the case ended in a plea. In 2015, he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and child endangering and received an eight-year prison sentence. That case has resurfaced because the Florida arrest did not involve a new allegation tied to the baby’s death itself; instead, it revived public scrutiny of the earlier sentence, his release, and the supervision that followed.

The legal path ahead runs through two systems. In Florida, Grove was booked on the local charges tied to the beach encounter. Separately, Ohio can seek extradition based on the parole violation warrant that had already been issued. Public reports said the warrant dated to October 2025, months before deputies found him in Daytona Beach. Extradition is generally the first major step when a parole violator is arrested in another state, because the holding state must process the out-of-state request before the supervising state can take custody. Once returned to Ohio, Grove could face parole revocation proceedings in addition to any consequences from the Florida case. Public records reviewed for this report did not show a final disposition in either state as of April 18.

The arrest quickly drew strong reaction from Henderson, who said Grove was the kind of person deputies did not want on the beach or in the community. His sharpest criticism was aimed not only at Grove but at the system that allowed him to be back in public after the infant’s death. That reaction helped push the story beyond a routine fugitive arrest and back toward the older loss at its center: a baby killed in a domestic argument, a father who served prison time, and a chance encounter years later that reopened questions about punishment, supervision and public safety. On the sand that day, deputies had started with a minor enforcement stop. They ended with a man wanted in another state and a case that had never fully left the public mind.

As of Saturday, Grove remained a wanted parole violator in Ohio’s public records, and the next clear milestone is whether Florida court proceedings or an extradition transfer move first.

Author note: Last updated April 18, 2026.