NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A man appeared in court on Monday after a woman accused him of beating her up for hours while threatening to kill her and raping her three times in northeastern Miami-Dade County.
The woman suffered swelling under her right eye, a lump on the right side of her head, scratches on her chest, redness on her throat, and bruises on her arms and legs, police reported.
Recommended Videos
She reported Justin Cruz’s crimes started after 2 a.m., on Saturday, at her home in Miami-Dade’s city of North Miami Beach, according to the police arrest report released on Monday.
The woman reported Cruz raped her at about 5 a.m., 12 p.m., and 3 p.m., in her children’s room at her home west of the Oleta Annex, a southern section of the Oleta River State Park, according to police.
Cruz, 26, took away her phones; threatened to kill her more than a dozen times; threw her across the room; hit her in the face, head, and arms; and choked her until she became unconscious, according to police.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer ordered Cruz in court to stay away from the victim. Police officers had been to the mobile home along Northeast 136 Street on domestic violence incidents involving Cruz before, according to the police arrest report.
Cruz, a drug offender, was convicted of stalking and assault in 2020 and was on a two-year probation that started on May 23, 2022, when police officers arrested him on Saturday, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
Prosecutors dropped a 2015 aggravated assault with a deadly weapon case against him, a judge ordered probation but did not formally convict him of criminal mischief in 2016, and prosecutors dropped a domestic violence case against him in 2018, Miami-Dade court records show.
After arresting Cruz at about 10:35 p.m., on Saturday, police officers accused him of damaging the two back doors of a North Miami Beach Police Department patrol car.
Miami-Dade corrections officers booked Cruz at about 10:13 a.m., on Sunday, at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where he remained without bond on Monday afternoon, records show.
For the incident on Saturday, Cruz is facing three counts of sexual battery, a first-degree felony; tampering with a victim, a third-degree felony; strong arm robbery; false imprisonment; domestic battery by strangulation; criminal mischief; battery; and resisting an officer without violence.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Carmen Cabarga is presiding over his case. Detectives were asking anyone with information about the case to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
Location