OCALA, Fla. – Ocala police say a man targeted two random women as they were walking alone, sexually battering one of them and attacking the other with a sharp object.
According to the report, the first attack happened June 16. The victim said she was walking along Blitchton Road around 1 p.m. when a man she didn’t know approached her and asked her for a cigarette, records show.
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Then, police said the man grabbed the woman by her neck, held a box cutter or similar sharp object to her throat and forced her into a wooded area where he sexually battered her.
The man, later identified as Leo McFatten, took the woman’s phone and threw it in an attempt to prevent her from calling 911 after the attack, according to the affidavit.
The second attack was reported Sunday around 6 a.m. The victim in that case said she was walking to work when McFatten approached her and started saying something she didn’t understand because her English is limited, records show.
Police said she tried to ignore McFatten since she didn’t know him but he followed her and pushed her into a drainage ditch then pinned her down using his body weight.
The victim said she tried to offer him her backpack, thinking she was being robbed, but McFatten wasn’t interested in the belongings and that’s when she realized that he was likely trying to rape her, according to authorities.
Police said McFatten told the woman, “Shut up your mouth, I’m going to kill you. You will never see your kids again.”
McFatten stabbed the victim multiple times by her ear with a sharp object, then forced her to get up from the ditch, grabbed her by the collar and started dragging her toward a wooded area, the affidavit said.
Records show the victim bit McFatten’s hand, which was placed over her mouth, and at that point she was able to scream for help as he ran away.
Police said when they found the victim, she had dried blood on her face, fresh blood on her neck, blood dripping from her ear, a cut on her arm, scratches on both hands, blood on her fingers and under her finger nails and a cut on her stomach.
Both victims were able to identify McFatten from photo lineups.
He was arrested Friday at a cemetery near where both attacks occurred.
Records show he’s facing charges of kidnapping, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, sexual battery with the use of a deadly weapon and tampering with a victim - prohibiting the use of 911.