Man attacks teen walking to bus stop and assaults her at playground, Florida cops say

A 15-year-old was walking to her bus stop one morning when a man dragged her to a playground and sexually assaulted her at knifepoint, Florida law enforcement said.

Raymond Luis De Jesus, 38, is charged with sexual battery with a weapon and kidnapping, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

De Jesus’ attorney information isn’t available in Lee County records.

The teen left her home shortly before 6 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 12, and said she encountered De Jesus riding toward her on his bike near a Fort Myers park, deputies wrote in an arrest affidavit.

He tried to talk to her and she attempted to go around him, but then he pulled a knife and held it to her head, according to deputies.

He pulled her over to the playground area of the park and told her, “You’re going to die,” deputies said. He sexually assaulted her, and she tried to call her grandmother on her phone, but he saw and pushed her away, according to the affidavit.

The grandmother told investigators she heard the teen begging the man not to hurt her, as she hadn’t done anything to him, before the call disconnected.

The grandmother went to the park and found the teen after the man had fled, deputies said. The grandmother said she normally gives the girl a ride to the school bus stop, according to deputies.

The teen described the man’s tattoos, knife and bike, allowing deputies to identify him, according to investigators. When they went to his home to arrest him, they said he refused commands to come out, and they eventually found him hiding in the attic.

Investigators said they searched his home and found a bike matching the tire marks at the scene and a knife that fit the teen’s description.

The 15-year-old picked his photo out of a lineup, and a phone that was found at the scene belonged to De Jesus, deputies said. The teen said she had seen De Jesus at the park before, and several months earlier, he had asked for her number.

De Jesus denied assaulting the girl.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office released footage of De Jesus’ arrest, showing the man lowering himself down from the attic and being taken into custody.

Fort Myers is about a 45-mile drive north from Naples.