After conducting undercover surveillance of Tivoli Apartments in Gainesville, located at 2841 SW 13th St., since the rape of a UF student was reported there Wednesday, Gainesville Police arrested a 14-year-old Gainesville resident for the crime Saturday night.
The boy, whose name was not made public because he is a minor, was arrested with his 13-year-old brother after police observed the pair walking around the complex and concealing themselves in the shadows of buildings, GPD spokesperson Officer Ben Tobias wrote in an email.
The brothers had begun to break into an apartment’s window just before they were arrested, Tobias said.
Officers were patrolling the complex after a UF student, who was exercising in the apartment’s gym, was attacked and raped, according to Alligator archives. The woman told police a man who she let into the gym punched her in the face, grabbed her throat and exposed himself to her, according to archives.
GPD detectives suspect the brothers were involved in other burglaries in the area in the past few weeks, Tobias said. The 13-year-old brother was arrested on a charge of attempted residential burglary, while the 14-year-old was arrested on charges of sexual battery, business burglary, occupied residential burglary, attempted armed residential burglary and resisting arrest.
Although Tobias said evidence and statements confirmed the 14-year-old was responsible for the rape, he couldn’t specify what the evidence and statements were.
The brothers were taken to the Alachua County Juvenile Assessment Center.
