LAUDERHILL, Fla. – A South Florida man has been arrested after investigators said he sexually battered a 16-year-old girl in Lauderhill.
The suspect, identified by police as Jermaine Henderson, 39, was arrested in Hollywood on Tuesday.
On April 11, shortly after 7:36 p.m., Lauderhill police officers said they were notified of a juvenile female at Plantation Hospital reporting a sexual battery.
According to police, the victim had been dropped off by a school bus at the intersection of Northwest 38th Avenue and Northwest Sixth Street just after 4 p.m. that day.
The victim began walking to her home when she noticed a white pickup truck parked in a driveway and a Black male standing near the truck, authorities said.
Police said the man “showered the victim with compliments and coaxed her into approaching his vehicle.”
“He compliments here, he creates this sense of safety or security for her and lures her in,” said Major Mike Santiago of the Lauderhill police department.
Surveillance video obtained by police shows Henderson pulling into a driveway in the truck. At the right bottom of the screen, the victim can be seen walking along the sidewalk, authorities said.
Police said Henderson displayed what the victim described as a box cutter and threatened to hurt the girl if she resisted. Investigators said Henderson moved her to the side of his truck and used his passenger side door to conceal them while he carried out the rape before letting her go.
Once the act was completed, Henderson told the victim to go home and the suspect left the scene, authorities said.
According to police, Henderson had no connection to the driveway where he parked his truck.
Shortly after, the victim’s mother transported the girl to the hospital and contacted the police.
Henderson was in court on Wednesday facing several charges including two counts of sexual battery.
The judge ordered him held without bond.
Students who are dropped off at the same Lauderhill bus stop every day are shaken up, but relieved that police made an arrest.
Detectives said they are concerned that Henderson has committed “an act like this (previously) due to his calm demeanor and the manner in which he preyed upon the victim” and that there may be other victims.
Anyone with information is asked to call Lauderhill police or Broward Crime Stoppers at (954) 493-8477.