ORLANDO, Fla. – A man recently identified as a suspect in a sexual battery case that occurred in Orlando in 1983 was arrested in Clay County on Friday, court records show.
Lesie Lovan Hammock, 58, was taken into custody on a warrant issued on Oct. 9 by an Orange County Circuit Court judge. He's accused of sexual battery with a deadly weapon, according to an arrest report.
Orlando police did not immediately provide details about the cold case that occurred 35 years ago or how they were able to identify Hammock as a suspect.
Hammock spent nearly six years in prison for another violent attack that occurred in Bradenton.
According to an arrest affidavit in that 2010 case, Hammock allegedly dragged a woman into a wooded area and started removing her clothes while holding a knife to her throat. After fighting off Hammock, the report states, the victim escaped with only a minor wound.
Although originally charged with kidnapping and attempted sexual battery, Hammock was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading no contest to aggravated battery, court records show.
Hammock was released from state prison in September 2016. He was living in Green Cove Springs at the time of his arrest on Friday.
Besides the 1983 sexual battery case, Orlando police said they are looking into whether Hammock might be responsible for another sex crime that occurred around that same time period.