EUSTIS, Fla. — An undocumented Eustis man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after he raped a 15-year-old girl inside his apartment.
Police arrested Jose Gomez last July after the girl called 911 and immediately hung up.
Investigators said the then-29-year-old met the girl after she was driven to Lee’s Laundromat on Orange Avenue by some “friends” she was unable to name. He paid her $100 and took her back to his apartment on N. Prescott Street.
She told police she was held down, eventually scratching herself to freedom. Police said they found her wandering around the neighborhood, distraught.
They said she initially told them she was 21 but later confirmed she was underage.
“He will be behind bars for the rest of his life, those prison bars will be too nice for him,” Attorney General James Uthmeier, who leads the state’s human trafficking task force, said Tuesday.
Officers said they believed Gomez had several other victims based on neighbor reports and his habit of searching for 13 year old girls online.
They declined to say anything other than they had multiple active cases.
Gomez had been living in the Eustis area for several years after he overstayed his work visa, they said.
They confirmed the girl’s story through text message history, DNA evidence and neighbors saying they could hear the girl screaming.
One investigator said he was dismayed that none of them tried to help the girl.
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