Man accused of kidnapping, raping woman in Fort Myers after offering ride home

A man is in custody after the Lee County Sheriff’s Office says he kidnapped and raped a woman who hitched a ride in his truck.

According to LCSO, Julio Velazquez, 24, was arrested Saturday after sexually battering a woman he found outside the Romance nightclub at 3506 Palm Beach Blvd. in Fort Myers. The woman needed a ride home, and Velazquez offered to take her there.

The woman eventually realized Velazquez wasn’t driving where she had told him to take her. According to the arrest report, the suspect told her he was taking her to a “beautiful place”, which turned out to be a wooded area near Bayshore Road in North Fort Myers. He pulled over and ordered her out of the car. She grabbed a broken bottle to defend herself.

When she ran, she said Velazquez grabbed her by the hair, pulled her down to the ground and dragged her back toward his truck.

Velazquez punched her repeatedly in the head until she lost consciousness. The woman said she woke up to find him raping her. She told deputies he said if she didn’t stop resisting that “was going to be her last breath” as his hand was around her neck.

She was eventually able to run away and hide in the woods. The woman knocked on people’s doors and found someone to contact law enforcement. She then received medical care.

LCSO detectives began canvassing the area and were able to identify Velazquez’s GMC truck. Hours later, patrol deputies found it in Tice.

Velazquez was detained and brought into custody. LCSO said he is an undocumented immigrant with no record in Florida, who has been living in the area for around two years.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said his office will work with federal authorities to have Velazquez deported.

“We will do everything in our power to make sure that he rots in hell where he belongs,” Marceno said.

A judge set Velazquez’s bond at $100,000.