KEY LARGO, Fla. – A Homestead man is in jail after he kidnapped a woman and drove her to the Florida Keys, raping her along the way, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.
Duglas Hernandez Morel, 33, faces several charges, including kidnapping and sexual battery.
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Sheriff's spokeswoman Becky Herrin said witnesses called 911 just after 4 a.m. Friday to report that a man had forced a woman into the back of a sport utility vehicle and drove south. They said the woman was asking for help, but the man threatened them with a baseball bat.
A deputy spotted the SUV and followed it to the Tradewinds Plaza, where he saw a man holding a woman's head by the hair and forcing her head up and down in his lap, Herrin said. The deputy ordered the man out of the SUV at gunpoint.
The 34-year-old woman told the deputy that the man, later identified as Hernandez Morel, kidnapped her from her from her ex-boyfriend's house and drove to the Keys, stopping several times to force her to have sexual relations with him.
She said that when they stopped near Gilbert's Resort in Key Largo, she convinced him to let her get out so she could take off her pants. Instead, she ran to a man who was fishing nearby for help, but Hernandez Morel threatened them with a baseball bat, she told the deputy.
Hernandez Morel was arrested. Herrin said a check of his driver's license revealed it had been suspended 22 times, so he also faces a charge of driving with a suspended license.
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