Man accused of molesting teen boy in Dolphin Mall bathroom stall
MIAMI — A Broward County man with a history of sexual assault is facing new charges after he allegedly molested a teenage boy in the bathroom stalls at Dolphin Mall earlier this month, court documents show.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by CBS News Miami, 35-year-old Hunter Hines of Pembroke Pines was arrested on Monday and is facing two felony charges: attempted sexual battery of a victim under 18 and lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim.
During his bond court appearance on Tuesday, it was revealed that Hines had an open sexual battery case against him concerning a 14-year-old in Indian River County in 2022.
Circuit Court Judge Mindy Glazer said, "These are very serious charges." She said bond "for Count One, $100,000. Count 2, $100,000 plus house arrest" and she said he would have to wear a GPS monitor plus no unsupervised contact with children under 18."
"Sir you are ordered to stay away from the alleged victim and to have no contact with the alleged victim, directly or indirectly, in person or by writing or through 3rd parties," Glazer said.
The judge also asked why Hines had not been charged with kidnapping and a prosecutor said additional charges were possible. She also expressed concern about a similar case in Indian River County.
Hines's attorney Daniel Aaronson told CBS News Miami, "We will be investigating this case and when it is all said and done, we believe he will be exonerated." He said no decision had been made yet on whether the total bond of $200,000 would be posted.
CBS News Miami reached out to the Dolphin Mall but a spokeswoman said there would be no comment.
CBS News Miami also stopped at Hines's home in Pembroke Pines but a woman at the home said she did not want to comment.
The Miami-Dade assault case
On Jan. 4, a Miami-Dade Police investigator was assigned to a Sweetwater Police case involving a 13-year-old boy who told officers that he was sexually assaulted in the mall's bathroom stalls.
While in the bathroom washing his hands, the teen was approached by Hines, who allegedly grabbed him and took him into one of the urinal stalls, where he forcibly made the young victim perform sexual acts, the arrest warrant said. The boy was eventually able to escape by kicking Hines and running away to the Dolphin Mall's security office to report what had happened.
After talking to the boy, the Miami-Dade Police investigator obtained security video from Dolphin Mall, where a man matching Hines' description was allegedly seen entering and exiting the bathroom at the time of the assault, the arrest warrant said. After running his image through law enforcement databases, the victim was able to confirm Hines' identity as the man who assaulted him.
Hines was then booked into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center nine days after the incident was reported, where he is currently awaiting his bond to be set.
The 2022 Indian River County assault case
CBS News Miami also obtained the arrest warrant for the Indian River County case where Hines was also charged in. According to the documents, he was a Vero Beach resident at the time of the assault.
On Nov. 7, 2022, an Indian River County Sheriff's deputy was called out to the Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital about a sexual battery incident. Upon arrival, they met with the 14-year-old boy with Asperger's syndrome, who texted the suicide hotline after he was allegedly forced to perform sexual acts by an unknown man he met on dating app Grindr, the arrest warrant said.
The man, later identified as Hines, allegedly picked up the victim and drove him to an unknown location not too far from the victim's home before sexually assaulting and taking pictures of the boy naked, the arrest warrant said.
A victims' advocate and the deputy then met with the boy and his mother, who said she left their home to go shopping before returning to find her son "not acting himself." The mother asked her son to see his phone, which revealed the text messages to the suicide hotline, and he confessed to his mother that he was raped and forced to perform other sexual acts, the arrest warrant said. The mother believed the suicide hotline called 911 due to the emergency medical and police response, where she asked them to take him to the emergency room for a sexual assault exam.
The teenager told the deputy that he went on Grindr to talk to people when he met Hines online and told him his age, before getting picked up and sexually assaulted by him, the arrest warrant said. The deputy then spoke with the mother, who said her son's condition makes it difficult for him to communicate his emotions. The deputy asked for the boy's phone for evidence and began examining it.
Hours later, a complete forensic interview conducted by the Children's Advocacy Center revealed that the boy was a victim of statutory rape based on the incident he described to officials, the arrest warrant said.
Weeks later, the boy's mother told the deputy that he was able to find the location of where he was attacked and forwarded the address, tracking Hines after learning he had filed a previous vehicle burglary report.
A few weeks after that, the boy was presented with a photo lineup and identified Hines as the man who sexually assaulted him.
On Feb. 3, 2023, Indian River Sheriff's deputies went to Hines' home for questioning, where he and his fiancee greeted them at the door.
When he was asked whether he used Grindr, Hines told the deputies that he was aware of the app but had not used it in a few years. When asked whether he had illegal photos on his phone, he told them "no." Hines then continued, asking what would happen to him if they discovered anything "borderline" before backtracking and saying "there is absolutely no kiddie porn" on his phone, the arrest warrant said.
The deputies then asked Hines whether he remembered meeting a young man, to which he said "I am not into kids." When he was asked if there would be a possibility that his DNA would be found on the victim, Hines looked away from deputies and said "Oh, no way," the arrest warrant said.
After getting his consent to collect his DNA, Hines and his fiancee were informed of the date of the incident. When examining Hines' phone, deputies found a picture of him with his fiancee's father at a Fort Lauderdale restaurant hours before the assault. The deputies then asked whether Hines stayed in Fort Lauderdale or if he drove back with his fiancee, to which his fiancee replied that they "always drive separate," the arrest warrant said.
The deputies then left Hines' home and walked into the parking area where they saw his car, which matched the description the boy gave them on the night of the assault.
On March 10, 2023, the DNA results came in and confirmed Hines was indeed the man who sexually assaulted the boy.