No Bond For Miami Kidnapping, Sexual Assault Suspect
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The man suspected of a kidnapping and sexual assault of a woman in Miami appeared before a judge on Thursday.
Terrence Jefferson, 33, was charged Wednesday with those crimes after being jailed nearly two weeks ago on unrelated charges stemming from an armed kidnapping of an 18-year-old and the robbery of two girls.
During Thursday's hearing , the judge denied bond.
Miami police said rape and kidnapping case was solved thanks to the two girls - ages 9 and 13 - who were robbed in the area of 80th Street and NE 7th Avenue a day after the rape.
"He brandished a firearm at the two girls. The little girls were afraid, started yelling, dropped their phone and laptop and ran away," said Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa at a news conference on Wednesday.
Orsa said one of the girls proved to be the key to identifying Jefferson as the attacker. The 9-year-old provided a partial license tag of the car he was driving to police who were able to track it to Jefferson's girlfriend.
Orosa said Jefferson had been living with her and when she went to work, he would use her car without her knowledge.
The December 30th kidnapping and rape occurred about 9:20 a.m. as a young woman sat in her car entering GPS coordinates to a location in Tampa she was going to visit.
Without warning a man jumped into her car through an unlocked door, threw her in the backseat and drove off a short distance to an abandoned house. The man, wearing a hoodie, threatened her with a gun and took her money and other valuables. He then sexually assaulted her using his hand.
Police said the woman remained calm and convinced the man to stop. He ran off and a neighbor's security camera caught an image of the man driving off in a black Chevy Impala.
Jefferson has a lengthy and violent criminal history that dates back to 2000. Charges include attempted felony murder, strong arm robbery and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer for which he was sentenced to state prison. He spent 3 ½ years in prison and was released on November 20, 2013.
One month later, the woman was sexually assaulted.
"Apparently rehabilitation in jail didn't work for him. He was only out for a month and he started his crime wave again," said Chief Orosa.
Jefferson was positively identified by all four of his victims; the two young girls, the sexual assault victim and another woman who was robbed on December 28th.
In that case, Chief Orosa said Jefferson pulled up alongside an 18-year-old woman who had just left a bus stop and forced her at gunpoint to get into the black Impala.
"Mr. Jefferson, took out a gun, told her to get in his car. He was trying to sexually assault her," said Orosa.
The arrest affidavit for that case states that Jefferson man told the victim "Don't look at me or I'm going to kill you" then demanded she take her clothes off.
"The woman fought back and ran away and she gave us a good description of the car," said Orosa.
Jefferson is charged with 4 counts of armed robbery, 3 counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, 1 count of armed kidnapping, 1 count of false imprisonment and 1 count of sexual battery.
"Hopefully we can give him a long jail term and he won't do this again," said Orosa.
CBS4's Jim DeFede contributed to this report.
