MIAMI – A detective accused a 63-year-old man of sexually abusing two girls: One from when she was eight to 13 years old, and the other from when she was 14 to 16 years old, according to the Miami-Dade Police Department.
During the sexual abuse, Kernst Saige Raymond threatened the youngest victim with killing her family if she ever disclosed what he was forcing her to do, records show. She was brave.
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“The victim disclosed the incidents to a friend’s mother, who notified her mother, and it was reported to the police,” Detective Amy Romero wrote in an affidavit in support of a warrant.
Romero, who was assigned to the case on Oct. 27, 2020, found the second victim, who was reluctant to report the abuse at first, but later changed her mind in January, according to the warrant a judge issued in July.
Detectives arrested Raymond, who was living in Palm Beach County, on Tuesday morning in Broward County and deputies held him at the main jail in Fort Lauderdale, according to the arrest report.
Raymond was extradited hours later to Miami-Dade County where corrections officers booked him at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center where he remained on Wednesday held without bond.
Raymond is facing two counts of sexual activity with a child, and one count of lewd or lascivious molestation on a child less than 12 years of age, records show. He pleaded not guilty and demanded a trial by jury, court records show. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Tanya Brinkley is presiding over the case.
Raymond has an arrest record in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. Records show police officers arrested him on January 2012 in Miami Gardens for a burglary, but prosecutors dropped the case. The arrests in Broward and Palm Beach were traffic misdemeanors in 2016 and 2018.
Detectives were asking anyone with information about cases related to Raymond to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477, Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477, or Palm Beach County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-458-8477.