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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nJulio Velazquez, 24, of Lehigh Acres, remains at the Lee County Jail on Monday afternoon on a $1 million bond. He’s charged with sexual assault and kidnapping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During a Monday press conference, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said around 6 a.m. Saturday deputies responded to a residence in North Fort Myers in reference to a sex crime that had just occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A female victim, who was violently battered and bruised, told deputies she had been taken to what she believed was a cab after she left Romance Night Club, 3506 Palm Beach Blvd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After he dropped another person off, the victim realized the driver was not driving to her residence and she became scared, Marceno said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She begged the driver to simply take her home, but he kept driving in a different direction. The driver pulled over in a secluded area near Bayshore Road and Pritchett Parkway and ordered the victim from the vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still in fear, Marceno said, she exited and armed herself with a broken bottle. She tried to defend herself, but Velazquez began viciously attacking her, punching her repeatedly in the face and in the head to the point where she lost consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marceno said the photos of her injuries are “bone-chilling.” She had bruising and swelling, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“She was in a fight for her life,” Marceno said. “Victim awoke to the suspect raping her, with his hands around her neck, threatening to kill her.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As he attack continued, Marceno said the victim screamed for help, begging Velazquez to stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Eventually, she was able to flee and hide in the woods,” Marceno said. “After several hours of hiding, she began knocking on doors in a nearby neighborhood, until a homeowner was able to contact law enforcement.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marceno said detectives began canvassing the area as analysts reviewed cameras and other databases for clues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Detectives and analysts were able to retrace that evening,” Marceno said. “They identified the suspect vehicle located at the scene in a heavily wooded area.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hours later, patrol deputies located the pickup in the Tice area occupied by Valazquez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marceno said authorities believe Velazquez has been in Lee County for two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marceno said Velazquez had been detained at the Texas border and was given a summons to appear in court, later released at the border. He did not release his country of origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Velazquez is next due in court July 10 for his arraignment on the kidnapping and sexual assault charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What a North Fort Myers woman thought would be a ride home after an evening at a local nightclub soon became her biggest nightmare early Saturday. Julio Velazquez, 24, of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":58098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[2372,2371],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58097"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58099,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58097\/revisions\/58099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}