Gainesville Police recently connected 41-year-old Danny Williams of Gainesville to multiple sexual assault cases where he had taken advantage of women in the Tent City area.
GPD charged Williams with sexual assault with a weapon after he knocked a woman to the ground, choked her until she passed out and raped her near the 500 block of Northwest Eighth Avenue last Tuesday, according to a police report.
Witnesses heard the woman’s screams for help when she woke up, which made Williams run from the area.
Williams stated that the woman tried to rob him with a knife, according to the report.
He did not further explain why the knife was found near him
“Danny Williams has been positively identified by victims in three cases, and we are fairly certain he is responsible for a fourth, but the victim did not get a good enough look at him,” GPD spokesman Ben Tobias wrote in an email.
“Williams was armed with a knife (that we recovered) in all of the attacks,” Tobias said. “We believe there may be possibly more victims that may have not reported their attacks.”
Officers booked Williams into the Alachua County Jail last Tuesday at about 8 p.m. As of press time, his bond is set at $5,000,000.
Anyone who has been victimized by Williams is encouraged to contact GPD detectives at 352-393-7658.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 7/15/2014 under the headline "Man accused of serial rape, given $5 million bond"]
