TAMARAC, Fla. – A 28-year-old man was arrested Tuesday after he attempted to molest a 13-year-old boy, the Broward Sheriff’s Office reported.
Andrew Jewell had pulled up by the victim, who was walking to school near the northwest corner of Pine Island Road and McNab Road, rolled down his passenger-side window and offered him a ride, deputies said.
The teen accepted.
While on the way to school, Jewell pulled into a neighborhood, parked near the pool and demanded that the teen touch his nipples, deputies said.
When the boy refused, Jewell grabbed his hands and forced him to rub his nipples, according to deputies. He then grabbed the front of the teen’s pants and pulled down his underwear, exposing his penis.
The teen pushed away when Jewell tried to touch his penis and began to scream that he was going to call the police, deputies said.
As a result, Jewell was only able to touch the teen’s stomach and never touched his penis.
The teen told deputies that he was scared Jewell would chase him and hurt him if he attempted to run away. He instead demanded that he be taken to school and, eventually, Jewell complied.
When the teen got to school at about 9:30 a.m.,he told a teacher that a stranger had given him a ride to school, and that he was sexually assaulted, deputies said.
When deputies arrived at the school, the teen told them that he was walking to school in the morning, and when he reached a strip mall, he saw a light gray GMC Denali with dark-tinted windows.
The boy said that the driver looked like he was in his 20s and had a "nappy" bread, an arrest report said.
An investigation was then launched.
Surveillance footage confirmed the route that the teen had taken to school and the time frame of events, deputies said.
In the footage from the neighborhood where the attempted molestation took place, a vehicle is seen stopping in front of the pool area for about five minutes, and movements are seen from both the driver and passenger side.
Deputies were able to identify Jewell based on a tag number from the vehicle they pulled from surveillance footage.
The driver’s license photograph description of Jewell matched the one that the victim had given, and deputies were able to track him down and place him into custody.
After being read his rights, Jewell told deputies that he did pick the teen up and that he dropped him off near his school, an arrest report said.
Jewell was arrested on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior and kidnapping.