South Beach hotel manager faces battery charge for sexually ‘overpowering’ inebriated woman

This Google Streetview image shows the Room Mate Waldorf Towers Hotel in South Beach. (Google Maps Streetview)

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A Miami Beach hotel manager is facing a misdemeanor battery charge after he was accused of sexually overpowering an inebriated woman against her will, according to the arrest form. The woman was a guest at the hotel.

Miami Beach police officers arrested Anthony Banderas, 55, who works and lives at the Room Mate Waldorf Towers Hotel, at 860 Ocean Dr., on Tuesday. Officers talked to a witness who said she is from Texas and she was sharing a hotel room with the victim.

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The witness told police officers she and the victim had drinks at the hotel’s lobby bar, and they decided to go to their room when the victim fell ill.

The witness told police officers Bandera brought ice to the room and pretended to care about the victim’s wellbeing. The witness said she let him inside. He approached the bed where the victim was, removed her bathing suit top, kissed her breast, and touched her vagina against her will, according to the report.

Records show Banderas was released on Wednesday from the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $500 bond.

Also in South Beach, officers arrested Dorian Taylor, 24, and Evoire Collier, 21, both of North Carolina, after they were accused of drugging and raping a 24-year-old woman from Pennsylvania who was found dead March 18 in her room at the Albion Hotel.

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About the Authors:

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.