Police reported arresting two men in separate incidents involving sex crimes against children. Bond hearings were scheduled on April 11.
Case Number One
Ronald Delroy Elliot was charged with five counts of lewd and lascivious behavior and one count of sexual battery against a child under the age of 12. The police report stated that Elliot sexually assaulted a five-year-old child while two other children, ages eight and nine, witnessed the incident. Elliot denied that the incident occurred.
Case Number Two
In an unrelated incident, a teen who was attempting to purchase illegal drugs was sexually assaulted by the dealer. Forty-eight-year-old Anthony Alexander, Jr. has been charged with “exposure to harm” and kidnapping/false imprisonment.
According to the police report, Alexander was a marijuana dealer from whom the teen attempted to purchase marijuana. Alexander invited the teen inside to purchase the marijuana. Once inside, the alleged victim reported that Alexander said something suggestive to her and then prevented her from leaving, blocking her passage, and locking the door.
The teen told police that Alexander sexually assaulted her. The police attempted to set up a sting to get Alexander to confess what he had done in a conversation with the teen. The teen told Alexander that she did not tell police that he had confined and sexually assaulted her.
Alexander has not been charged with sexual assault, sexual battery, or any similar crime. He is only being charged with not allowing the teen to leave the premises and exposing a juvenile to harm.
Are These Cases Strong?
It’s hard to say how strong these cases are at this point because forensic details are not available. The first case is particularly troublesome because the five-year-old apparently told police about the crime which doesn’t normally happen unless someone else tells them to do that. In this case, the two corroborating witnesses are also both children with the oldest being ten years old. The man accused of the crime has thus far denied the accusations. He will likely argue that the two older children put the five-year-old up to tattling on him as some form of payback for some other perceived slight.
The second case is also difficult to gauge since it entirely relies on the alleged victim’s testimony. Already, the police have failed to address the alleged victim’s number one complaint against the suspect by failing to charge him with a sex crime. It remains to be seen if new allegations will be added pending forensic analysis or if the current allegations will be dropped on account of the lack of evidence. The details of the conversation between the alleged victim and suspect will also likely figure prominently into any prosecution.
Talk to a West Palm Beach Criminal Defense Attorney
If you’ve been charged with a serious crime, you need an experienced West Palm Beach criminal attorney to handle your case. This prevents you from getting railroaded by ambiguous evidence, sloppy police work, and speculative prosecution. Call The Skier Law Firm today to learn more.
Resource:
palmbeachpost.com/news/20200411/west-palm-beach-police-charge-two-men-with-child-sex-crimes