Vero Beach - Tuesday April 18, 2023: Vero Beach Police (VBPD) have arrested Robert Coleman Jr. on allegations of sexual battery.
Colman is accused of assaulting a woman in the parking lot of a Vero Beach hotel in the early morning hours of New Year's Day, 2023.
The woman told police that she had met a man at a bar while celebrating New Year's Eve and that she had spoken to him briefly. Later that night, according to a release from the VBPD, when she was walking back to her hotel, the man approached her and began to walk with her. Once in the hotel parking lot, the woman said the man suddenly stated, "You need to face the fact that you are gonna get raped tonight."
The woman said the man shoved her against the wall and began attacking her and she responded by using her cell phone as a weapon and striking him in the head causing him to bled. He then backed off and she fled.
Officers at the scene found two small dark stains that appeared to be blood. Swabs were collected and submitted for DNA analysis. The DNA results came back from the lab on April 4.
Coleman, who is a registered sex offender, had already been identified as a possible suspect. A Vero Beach Police Detective questioned him about the case and noticed that he had a small laceration near his left eye. Coleman denied ever meeting the victim or being in the hotel parking lot.
However, a DNA sample taken from Coleman was compared to the DNA results from the blood sample taken at the scene and the samples were found to be "a positive match", according to the VBPD release.
On April 12 a warrant for Sexual Battery was issued and Coleman was taken into custody the next day. He remains incarcerated on a $150,000.00 bond at the Indian River County Jail.