MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A now-former shopper for delivery company Instacart sexually assaulted a teenage Publix employee in the store’s parking lot, according to Miami-Dade police.
Authorities arrested Victor Manuel Fernandez, 36, of southwest Miami-Dade, on Wednesday. They said the attack happened on Nov. 4 at the Publix Super Market at Alegre Plaza, located at 14630 SW 26th St. in west Miami-Dade’s Tamiami area.
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A Miami-Dade Police Department arrest report states that after the girl’s shift ended that day, she got into Fernandez’s car and had a “casual conversation” with him. Local 10 News is not reporting the girl’s exact age in order to avoid identifying her.
Police said he then kissed her without consent, then drove his car to another area of the parking lot, where he fondled, then raped her. The report states that Fernandez admitted to having a “casual conversation” with the girl and claimed she asked him to move his vehicle.
Police redacted the rest of his statement from the report.
Fernandez was charged with sexual battery on a minor and counts of lewd and lascivious molestation and lewd and lascivious conduct. A judge ordered he be held without bond in Miami-Dade’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Instacart responded to the allegations in a statement to Local 10 News.
“We are appalled by this act of violence, and our hearts are with the survivor during this difficult time,” a statement from Instacart reads. “This shopper has been suspended from our platform, and we will fully cooperate with law enforcement on their investigation.”
A Publix spokesperson said Thursday afternoon that the chain “do(es) not comment on open investigations.”