FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A career criminal from Fort Lauderdale is facing several charges after police said he kidnapped, beat and tried to rob and sexually assault a healthcare worker near Broward Health Imperial Point hospital, according to court documents obtained by Local 10 News on Tuesday.
According to jail records, Willie J. Brown, 48, was taken into custody at the Broward Main Jail Sunday; police said the crime took place last June.
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According to an arrest warrant from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, the 67-year-old victim worked at the Imperial Point Medical Arts Pavilion, located 6333 N. Federal Highway. Property records show it’s owned by Broward Health as part of the hospital complex.
FLPD Detective Tiffany Williams wrote in the warrant that the attack happened after the woman arrived at work and parked just after 6:15 a.m. on June 27.
Williams wrote that as the victim got out of her car and grabbed her lunch bag, she felt someone standing behind her: It was Brown.
According to Florida Department of Corrections records, Brown, who’s had about a dozen stints in prison on a litany of violent and non-violent felonies dating back to the early 1990s, had been released 20 days prior.
“Don’t move,” police said Brown told her. “I have a gun. If you move, I will shoot you and don’t call the police because I don’t want to go back to jail.”
Brown, police said, told the victim he “needed money” and “demanded she get inside the car and give him her bag.”
He then grabbed her and placed her in a chokehold, police said; the woman broke free and ran, screaming for security.
As she was running, police said the victim “fell on a parking stop, hitting her hip, at which time Brown began to drag her across the parking lot as he beat her in the head and repeatedly stated, ‘I’m going to kill you.’ (The victim) stated she was thinking Brown was going to kill and rape her.”
The victim began to pray as Brown kept asking where her money and phone were, Williams wrote. She wrote that the victim continued to scream until she was unable to because Brown was “choking her so hard.”
Police said he then made another chilling threat: “I’m going to rape you.”
Williams wrote Brown tried pulling down the victim’s pants but was unable to due to a tight drawstring; he did tear her shirt off, however.
”Brown then dragged (the victim) between cars and hedges/bushes which prevented anyone from seeing her,” Williams wrote. “As Brown (dragged) her he repeatedly stated, ‘I need a woman.’”
He continued to choke the woman as she screamed for help, police said.
Williams wrote that the victim told police that “Brown’s knee was in her back when she looked up and saw a security guard” as “Brown repeatedly struck in her mouth and head.”
The woman, she wrote, “begged for the security guard to help her, telling him Brown was going to kill her. Brown got off and stated, ‘Don’t listen to her, she is my wife.’”
“(The) victim told the security guard that she did not know Brown, he was trying to kidnap (her) and stated she was crying and trying to get up, therefore she did not see what Brown did at that point,” Williams wrote.
The victim then sat down and called one of her coworkers, who called 911, police said. The woman was later taken to the nearby emergency room.
Police wrote that Brown was “gone” by the time an officer arrived. An additional report obtained by Local 10 News on Wednesday states that Brown “ran away” after security staff encountered him, guards “lost sight of him” and police weren’t able to track him down.
In a statement in response to questions about the incident and the security response, a Broward Health spokesperson said, in part, “Our highest priority is providing a safe environment for patients, employees and visitors. At the time of the incident, we worked closely with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department to help ensure proper steps were taken.”
State records show that Brown has been in Florida Department of Corrections custody two more times since the alleged assault.
He remained behind bars without bond Tuesday on charges of kidnapping with intent to commit a felony, attempted sexual battery, attempted robbery and battery on a person over 65.
On Monday, a Broward County judge found probable cause to charge him; online court records don’t indicate the date of his next scheduled appearance.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with additional information provided by FLPD about the suspect’s encounter with security officers at the scene.